Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope
by GriffinFire
Summary: A knight of the Round Table is trapped in a card as the Serpent Night Dragon. Fifteen hundred years later, it is up to a descendant of his worst enemy to free his soul.
1. Prologue

Donovan: So, you finally decided to start on this.  
  
GF: Yep! Before anyone gets confused, this WILL have something to do with Yu-Gi-Oh! by the end of the prologue. Donovan, you're still in charge of the disclaimer, so go on...  
  
Donovan: *sigh* GriffinFire doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! She doesn't own King Arthur and everyone who comes with him, either, but she does own me.  
  
GF: All right then! Let's get this party started!!  
  
Donovan: What party?!? I thought this started with me getting my soul sucked out!  
  
GF: *blinks* Um, yeah. Anyway, on with the fic!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Prologue  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The disgraced knight was led before King Arthur Pendragon in chains. He had been stripped of his armor and weapons, and was dressed only in a simple tunic and breeches. His unruly black hair was matted, but his sapphire-blue eyes still held a glint of defiance.  
  
Arthur absently stroked the pentangle about his neck as he mused over this would-be assassin. Donovan was only eighteen or so, one of his youngest knights. The king shook his head. He had seemed so promising. But now...  
  
He turned his mind back to the present. Donovan had attempted to murder him the week before. Arthur shuddered at the memory. The young knight had been caught, and sentenced to death.  
  
The blue eyes of Donovan, former knight of the Round Table, glittered with malice as they stared into the brown eyes of Arthur Pendragon, King of the Britons, as if trying to look into his very soul. The king tore his eyes away, and Donovan searched the crowd that had gathered.  
  
His eyes stopped on a tall, fair-haired young man a little older than himself. This was Mordred, Arthur's own son, but also conspiring against the king. His pale grey eyes did not meet Donovan's. He stared blankly through the young knight, obviously deep in thought. His fellow conspirator caught his attention, and slowly shook his head. Mordred looked distressed. He had been working out a plan to free Donovan, but Donovan obviously wanted him to do nothing.  
  
Donovan's eyes again settled on the king, and he spoke. "You will die, Arthur." He spat out the name as if it were a curse. "My death will be avenged. But surely it is better to die than to go on living in a kingdom under your tyranny." He glanced quickly at Mordred, making sure that the king's son had gotten the message.  
  
A low voice spoke from the shadows, and an ancient-looking man stepped into the light, the left half of his face obscured by his silver hair. "Well, then. Of course we won't kill you now, as it clearly won't be a punishment. I have something much more interesting planned for you." He brushed his hair back slightly, and the young knight stepped back involuntarily as he caught a glint of gold behind the silver curtain where the old man's left eye should have been.  
  
"Merlin," hissed Donovan, his face contorting in rage as he silently cursed the king's pet magician.  
  
Merlin smirked. He looked toward the king. "With your permission, my lord?"  
  
The king nodded. "Go on. This may prove interesting."  
  
The sorcerer's smirk widened to a cruel grin. He pulled the sheet of hair away from his face, revealing that his left eye had been replaced by a golden object in the shape of an eye. It glittered coldly and began to glow red. Donovan's eyes grew wide, and he shrank away from the wizard.  
  
The red glow intensified, and the crowd gasped as one as a red beam leaped out of the golden eye and toward Donovan.  
  
Donovan himself was glued to the spot as the beam struck his chest. It seemed to tug at him, as if trying to rip out his very heart. The knight let out a bloodcurdling scream as a shadowy ghost of a thing was wrenched out of his body.  
  
The shadow looked exactly like the young man now collapsed in a heap on the ground, but translucent. The red shaft of light was now focused on the transparent Donovan, and was twisting him about, stretching him... and then the ghost was no longer humanoid, but seemed to be a long, serpent-like dragon.  
  
Merlin laughed in triumph, and held up what seemed to be a card. The dragon-creature was pulled toward it, screeching and struggling, but to no avail. As the translucent creature disappeared from sight, it began to appear on the card.  
  
But even as the last of the dragon was dragged into the card, letting loose a final, heart-rending shriek, a clear voice from behind the king's throne began to chant a spell:  
  
"Soul imprisoned, caged and chained, Bound to battle, forced to fight, 'Til dragon's daughter, demon's hope, Brings you back into the light."  
  
A woman, dressed in shimmering blue, stepped out from behind the throne. Her hair was silvery-white, though she did not appear old. Her eyes, the clear green of lakewater, flashed angrily at Merlin.  
  
Merlin glared at her. "Nimuë," he growled, baring his teeth. "You've interfered with my experiments for the last time, Lady duLac!" He raised his hand to cast a spell, but the Lady of the Lake remained calm and cool.  
  
"You have no power over me, Merlin," she said softly, "and you know it. But I do have power over you. Sir Donovan will not remain trapped forever." She extended her hand. "Give me the card."  
  
The magician glared at the Lady, and she stared back, her arm still extended, her hand open expectantly. Merlin looked away, and put the soul card into her waiting hand.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Later that night, Mordred sat in his room in the castle, his head in his hands, not knowing what to do with himself. His greatest friend, the only person he had ever trusted - apart from his mother, Morgan le Fay, the king's half-sister - was gone.  
  
As he pondered, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jerked backward, surprised, and groped for his sword. But then he saw that it was Nimuë, and he relaxed. She silently pulled something out of her robes, and pressed it into the young man's hand. He looked down, startled. It was the soul card, now embellished with a picture of the dragon that Donovan had become. Mordred gave the Lady of the Lake a questioning look.  
  
"Keep this for me," she whispered. "Pass it on to your children. As long as the card is safe, Donovan will have a chance of returning."  
  
She left as silently as she had come, leaving Mordred staring down at the soul card.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: Aaand we'll end it right there. In case you didn't get it, Donovan is now the Serpent Night Dragon. Next chapter we'll be in the present, and on our way to Japan. You probably won't be seeing any of these people anymore, except for Donovan, and possibly Mordred.  
  
Donovan: Urggh... X_x You had to put me through that, didn't you? If I - and I quote - "let out a bloodcurdling scream," I was surely in a lot of pain. WHY do you have to DO this to me!?!?  
  
GF: Well, getting your soul ripped out of your body is hardly painless, and we need to get you some sympathy, so people will review! *grins* Hint, HINT! 


	2. Chapter I

GF: Ra! Mut! Nut! Khnum! Ptah! Sobek! Sekhmet! Sokar! Selket! Anubis! Anukis! Hemsut! Tefnut! Meshkent! Mafdet! Ra! Mut! *etc.*  
  
Donovan: *blinks* Ummm... Let's wait till later to deal with this. GriffinFire doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any persons, places, or things related, except for Alvis and me.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter I  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Alvis was going through her Duel Monsters deck, examining every card. She smiled at a few of her favorite monsters - Wingweaver, Sword Hunter, Jigen Bakudan, Serpent Night Dragon.... She paused at the last one, and tilted it slightly, watching as the sunlight coming through the plane window made the foil card sparkle and almost seem to be alive.  
  
Alvis was on her way to Japan, as an exchange student to Domino High School. At home in England, she was taking Japanese as a second language. She was almost fluent, and used the few Japanese Duel Monsters cards she owned to practice with the characters.  
  
Alvis twisted the five-pointed star at her throat as she grinned at her Serpent Night Dragon, her favorite card. It was a family heirloom, given to her by her father, and to him by his father. She thought she heard a faint growl, and she twisted in her seat, looking around to see if there was someone with a dog nearby. Nothing.  
  
She frowned slightly and looked down at her black cat, Bastet, who was curled up on the seat beside her. But the cat was asleep, and hadn't made a sound for hours. Alvis shrugged and settled back in the cushy seat to read a book, but soon fell asleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A young man, not more than twenty or so, stood before her. He was dressed in medieval armor. A cloak was draped around his shoulders, held in place by two large garnets. His wild, blue-black hair stuck out oddly. He studied her through sapphire-blue eyes.  
  
"Alvis Pendragon," he murmured, looking at her thoughtfully.  
  
Alvis was confused. "You must be looking for someone else. My last name isn't Pendragon, it's -"  
  
"You know not your lineage, dragon's daughter? King Arthur Pendragon and his son, Mordred, are among your ancestors. You are the one destined to free me from my prison." He turned away from Alvis and began to move toward a door, which seemed to be a huge Duel Monsters card.  
  
"Wait!" called Alvis. "Who are you? What am I supposed to save you from?"  
  
The young man turned back, and smiled. "My name is Donovan. That is all you need to know."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
With that, Alvis woke up.  
  
She found that Bastet had climbed into her lap, on top of her book. Her Duel Monsters lay scattered on the seat previously occupied by the cat. She started to put them back into a pile, but stopped as she picked up the Serpent Night Dragon. She thought she noticed something about the card that she'd never noticed before, but she couldn't place it. Then it hit her - the dragon's crest was like unruly blue-black hair, and its eyes were like garnets. It all came together.  
  
The single line of text on the Serpent Night Dragon card said that it was "a dragon created from the soul of a wicked knight." The man in her dream had been dressed in a knight's armor.  
  
Donovan was the Serpent Night Dragon. And she was a descendant of King Arthur? And Mordred, his son, the one who had killed him? She shook her head. It was just a dream, she told herself. Wasn't it?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: Ra! Mut! Nut! Khnum! Ptah! Sob-  
  
Donovan: Stop! STOP! I can't deal with it anymore! I've been listening to this throughout the entire chapter! Why are you so excited?!?!  
  
GF: I have all three GOD CARDS! AND two Exodias! AND two BEWDs! *bounces all over the place*  
  
Donovan: And where'd you get all these...?  
  
GF: In a collectibles store in the mall! They came in a pack of 50 cards - for $15!!! But they're in Chinese - yes, Chinese, not Japanese - so I have to look up each Magic, Trap, and Effect card to find out what it does. I know how the God Cards work, though! *nodnod* Ooh, I forgot! The Exodia cards are weird - the whole monster's on ONE card! Does anyone know how those work? I couldn't find them on-line.  
  
Donovan: So I guess I'm not special anymore...  
  
GF: Ack! Don't say that! You'll always be my most favorite card! *hugs* You're SHINY! And I found you in a BOOSTER PACK, so you're doubly special! Plus you've got a STORY and a PERSONALITY, which neither Exodia nor the God Cards have. Besides, they're fake. Anyway, PLEASE review! I have to go write Chapter II now... 


	3. Chapter II

GF: And we're back! Sorry about the long delay. I've had a lot of schoolwork the past couple of weeks. Anyway, your turn, Donovan!  
  
Donovan: Hell has not yet frozen over, so GriffinFire does not yet own Yu- Gi-Oh!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter II  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
As the plane swept downward and toward the ground, Alvis was filled with excitement. She was almost in Japan!  
  
She began to collect her things, packing them into her bag, looking under the seat to make sure nothing had escaped. A protesting Bastet was stuffed into a cat carrier as the plane landed. Alvis retrieved her suitcase from the overhead compartment and scrambled into the stream of people leaving the plane, eyes shining in anticipation.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ryou Bakura was hopping from foot to foot nervously, searching the crowd streaming off the plane with anxious brown eyes. He was meeting his penpal, Alvis Drake, who was coming to Japan on an exchange trip from England.  
  
There - Alvis was waving at him and trying to carry about twenty million bags at the same time. He grinned and waved back, beginning to make his way over to her.  
  
She reached him in the middle of the airfield, both grinning madly.  
  
"Ohayo, Ryou!" Alvis exclaimed, bouncing up and down happily. "This is so exciting!"  
  
"It's great to finally see you in person," the silver-haired boy replied. "Pictures can only tell you so much." He eyed her bags, and jumped back as one of them yowled at him. "I'll carry a couple of those for you - just not the one with the cat."  
  
Alvis sighed in relief. "Arigato. Here, take this." She handed him the suitcase. "It's not heavy, just bulky."  
  
Ryou took the suitcase and smiled wryly. "Clothes?"  
  
Alvis scowled good-naturedly. "You don't seriously expect me to survive two whole weeks with no more than a single change of clothing, do you?"  
  
Bastet began caterwauling, and Alvis laughed. "She wants to be fed. I guess we should get going, unless you live here?"  
  
It was Ryou's turn to laugh. "Come on then. My dad's got the car."  
  
* * * * *  
  
About a half hour later, Bastet had been fed and had made friends with Ryou. The black cat was curled up on the silver-haired boy's lap, purring contentedly as Ryou stroked her.  
  
Alvis was peering out the window, exploring what she could see of Domino City with her eyes. Ryou had already shown her the house, and her luggage was stored in the guest room.  
  
Bastet complained loudly as Ryou gently deposited her on the floor. Ryou stood up, straightened his sweater, and adopted a business-like tone. "Would you care to take Ryou Bakura's Official Tour of Domino City?"  
  
Alvis laughed aloud at Ryou's silly grin. "To Domino!"  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ryou led Alvis down the streets of Domino, pointing out places of interest. "To your left you'll see Domino High, where we will be in Algebra by eight o'clock on Monday morning. Down the street and to the right is the KaibaCorp skyscraper, and if you have VERY good eyes you'll probably see Mr. Seto Kaiba himself sitting at one of the windows near the top with his eyes glued to his laptop.  
  
"Straight ahead you can see the Turtle Game Shop, where our very own Duel Monsters Champion, Yugi Moto, lives with his grandfather. If I'm not mistaken, coming out of the Game Shop is Joey Wheeler, who placed second in the Duelist Kingdom tournament and fourth in the Battle City Tournament, as well as Tristan Taylor and Tea Gardner. These three are known collectively as 'Yugi's Cheerleaders.' Please refrain from mentioning the Heart of the Cards or Friendship near any of them, especially Tea, or you will be treated to a long speech concerning both."  
  
Alvis was doubled over in laughter at Ryou's Tour Guide act, and the three teenagers looked at her with odd expressions on their faces as they approached.  
  
"Hello Ryou," said Tristan, peering at Alvis cautiously as she straightened up. "Who's your friend?"  
  
"Hey guys!" replied Ryou. "This is Alvis Drake, from England. She's been my penpal for nearly a year now, and she came on an exchange trip."  
  
Alvis shook hands with each of them in turn. Joey noticed the bulge of her Duel Monsters deck in her jeans pocket. "Do you duel?"  
  
She grinned and patted her pocket. "Yes, I do. Maybe I could play you sometime?"  
  
Joey grinned back, and bared his teeth in mock ferocity. "Sure! But be warned, Joey Wheeler is not an easy one to beat."  
  
"Of course not."  
  
"Where's Yugi?" Ryou asked, looking around at about waist height, as if expecting to see an eight-year-old.  
  
Tea chimed in. "He had to help Grandpa sort out some new cards they just got."  
  
"Oh." Ryou looked slightly disappointed. "I guess Alvis can meet him on Monday. Goodbye, then."  
  
Alvis waved to the three as they left. She turned to Ryou when they turned a corner. "Tristan's hair was very... interesting. I wonder how he gets it to do that?"  
  
Ryou shook his head and smiled ruefully. "Believe me, you haven't seen strange hair until you've seen Yugi's." JH\  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: And that's the end! That was longer than last chapter, but still kind of short...  
  
Donovan: I wasn't even in this one!  
  
GF: Well, you can't be in EVERY chapter! I promise, you'll be in the next one.  
  
Donovan: Hmph. _ Anyway... How'd you get "Drake" from Pendragon?  
  
GF: Ah. People will probably be wondering about that one. I'm borrowing my sister's version of Mordred, which is how he ended up looking like he does. Slinky actually managed to get Mordred into her own fantasy story, which is set in her own fantasy world. Her version of Merlin is a lot different than mine, though. So, anyway, in Slinky's world, ra'Thun, dragons are gods, and Merlin is actually a dragon - Chandrilír Frostflame. I am rather proud of this, because I actually created Chrandrilír. So, Slinky's Merlin is working against King Arthur, and after Mordred kills/mortally wounds Arthur, Merlin grants Mordred eternal life. Mordred shortens his name to Pendrake, which is later shortened to Drake. In history class, I got this idea that Sir Francis Drake (known as the "Dragon") could be somewhere in the middle there, too. Anyway, Mordred also later meets Inhatenankh Mharin Cu?arel Diajii Paidr, who got twisted a bit and inserted into Slinky's Yu-Gi-Oh! fic, Daughter of Anubis. So we may very well meet Mordred later in THIS story, because he's gonna be around forever. *looks up* I just wrote a book there, didn't I? So, review! We live on reviews! If we don't get reviews, we die! 


	4. For All of You Who Haven't Reviewed

GF: Hello to everyone! But maybe I shouldn't be as friendly anymore... After all, some of you haven't been reviewing!! So, I'm going to sic Donovan on you! WITH A SWORD! Mwahahaha!!  
  
Donovan: *holding Sword of Dark Destruction* *blinks* I haven't used a sword in nearly a thousand years, Griffin, in case you'd forgotten...? I"VE BEEN SITTING IN THAT VERY SMALL ROOM KNOWN AS A SOUL CARD!!!!  
  
GF: O_o You don't need to shout... All right, I'LL use it then! *takes sword* *swings it around*  
  
Readers: *back away*  
  
Donovan: *is hit* X_x Owww...  
  
GF: *blinks* Ooops... Donovan? Donovan! DONOVAN!!!  
  
Donovan: *wakes up* Urrrggh...  
  
GF: Yay! You're alive! *hugs*  
  
Donovan: !!!! Get offa me!!! *tries to pry crazy authoress off*  
  
GF: No!  
  
Donovan: *scowls* *grabs sword*  
  
GF: !!!! *lets go* I thought you didn't remember how to use a sword...  
  
Donovan: I didn't say that!  
  
GF: Yes you did!  
  
Donovan: No I didn't! Look! *points up*  
  
GF: *looks up* Oh.  
  
Donovan: *nods*  
  
GF: So... why can't I hug you?  
  
Donovan: Because I'm a very evil, wicked knight, and you don't want to!  
  
GF: That doesn't make sense!  
  
Donovan: *blinks* Why not?  
  
GF: Because of course I want to! You're cute!  
  
Donovan: -_- There's one I haven't heard before...  
  
GF: You haven't? Good! That means I'm your only fangirl!  
  
Donovan: !!! Fangirls?!? Where?!?!?!? *tries to hide behind sword*  
  
GF: Nowhere! That's the point! But why are you so scared of them, if you don't have them - you don't know what they do!  
  
Donovan: Malik's told me about them...  
  
GF: Hey! Since when have you been talking to my sister's muses?  
  
Donovan: ........  
  
GF: You're not allowed to talk to them! They are eeevviiilll!!!  
  
Donovan: O_o Since when?  
  
GF: Well, as far as we poor American's who're stuck with the dub are concerned, Malik's obviously evil. And Chaos is evil because he took over the Dark Magician's spot! And Slinky's my rival, so she's evil!  
  
Donovan: Oookay... But Slinky's got more reviews than you, so don't you think we should take advice from her muses?  
  
GF: Malik and Chaos are just randomly crazy - they don't do anything important. We take advice from Slinky herself, not from her muses!  
  
Donovan: But I thought Slinky was evil, too...  
  
GF: That's beside the point! *grabs sword back* *whacks Donovan over the head*  
  
Donovan: Ooogg... X_x  
  
GF: Ooops... I did it again!  
  
Chaos: *walks in* What's going on in here?  
  
GF: Holy Kuriboh! Where'd you come from!  
  
Chaos: O.O Kuriboh!?!? Where?!?!? *runs away*  
  
GF: Well, I guess that takes care of that... *snickers* He's allergic to Kuriboh...  
  
Donovan: *opens an eye, looks around, jumps up, grabs sword, clonks GF over the head*  
  
GF: X_x  
  
Donovan: Ahh... now that's taken care of...  
  
Chaos: *comes back, nervous* Are the Kuriboh gone?  
  
Donovan: *blinks* I won't ask...  
  
GF: *sits up* *blinks* *begin to giggle maniacally*  
  
Donovan: O_o Now what?  
  
GF: *giggles* I had the FUNNIEST dream! *spots Chaos* Holy Kuriboh! You again!?  
  
Chaos: O_o Kuriboh?!? *runs away - again*  
  
GF: *shrugs* Anyway... my dream! *chuckles madly* You were a chibi!!! *laughs insanely*  
  
Donovan: !!!! O_o;; A CHIBI?!?!?  
  
GF: Hehehe!! Yep! And... O_o *stares past Donovan*  
  
Donovan: I don't wanna know, do I? *turns around* Holy Kuriboh...  
  
Chibi Donovan: *wanders in with Chibi Sword of Dark Destruction* Hewwo! 


	5. Chapter III

GF: Hello again! I am obliged to write this NOW because, if I don't, Fade is gonna kill Ryou.  
  
Ryou: -_-()  
  
GF: And thank you to my wonderful reviewers, who I've been forgetting to thank:  
  
Donovan: Ooookay... GriffinFire doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
Chibi Donovan: Yeah! GwiffinFiah no own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter III  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Monday morning arrived. As Ryou buttoned his blue uniform over the Millennium Ring, he silently spoke to his yami.  
  
/I'd appreciate it if you didn't try anything else while Alvis is here. You were lucky she didn't notice anything last night./  
  
The night before, Bakura had taken over in the middle of a conversation about school and had made some rather odd comments about some of the teachers. Thankfully, Alvis had attributed it to Ryou's silly side.  
  
The tomb robber growled. //Fine. Now get going, you're gonna be late.//  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ryou bit back a laugh as he went down the stairs and saw Alvis at the breakfast table. Upon seeing the Domino High girl's uniform, she had immediately detested it. Being the tomboy she was, there were two things she hated above all others - miniskirts and the color pink. The girl's uniform had them both. Yes, Alvis was wearing the boy's uniform. Sitting down next to her, Ryou grinned.  
  
"How much do you want to bet that everyone who sees you from the back is going to think you're a boy?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
Yugi frowned in concentration at the back of the new student, a boy with a brown ponytail. Someone had said something about an exchange student. Ah, yes. Ryou had mentioned his pen pal. Yugi tapped the boy's shoulder, and he turned around.  
  
"Excuse me, are you -" His question died in his throat, and he stared. "But you're a... a girl!"  
  
Alvis smiled wryly. "Yes. And you're a boy." She did a double take, her brain registering both his stature and his hair.  
  
Yugi sighed. "Before you ask," he began. "One. No, I did not escape from preschool. Two. No, the gold thing is not for sale." He pointed to the pyramid hanging around his neck. "Three." He pointed to his hair. "No, I do not use hair gel."  
  
Alvis stared at him for a moment longer, and then laughed. "You must be Yugi. Ryou told me I'd know you by your hair." She held out her hand, and he shook it.  
  
"And you must be Ryou's pen pal. He didn't mention your name."  
  
"Alvis. Alvis Drake."  
  
At that moment, Ryou appeared, followed by a group of six or so girls, all staring adoringly up at him. He looked miserable.  
  
Alvis snickered. "Fan club?"  
  
"Yeah," Ryou answered, grimacing. "I can't get rid of them until classes start, and then at least one of them's in each class."  
  
Alvis thought for a moment, and an evil smile spread across her face. "I think I know how to get rid of them."  
  
"How? Tell me!"  
  
She planted a kiss on Ryou's cheek.  
  
Ryou's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and his face turned so red that he looked like the Mystic Tomato. But his reaction was nothing next to that of the girls.  
  
Each girl's jaw dropped to the floor, and tears welled up in each pair of eyes. Then, as one, the entire gaggle ran from the scene, sobbing.  
  
Alvis smirked.  
  
Ryou slowly recovered, the red draining out of his cheeks, but leaving them paler than before.  
  
Yugi smiled evilly, and then cleared his throat and began to sing. "Ryou's got a girlfriend! Ryou's got a girlfriend!"  
  
"Shut up!" Alvis and Ryou yelled in unison, both smacking the smaller boy upside the head with their backpacks.  
  
Yugi scowled at them. "Easy on the hair!"  
  
* * * * *  
  
The school day proceeded fairly normally, not counting the raised eyebrows of the teachers at Alvis's apparel or the scowls from Ryou's fan club.  
  
That afternoon found Ryou, Alvis, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Tea in the Turtle Game Shop. Yugi had promptly challenged Ryou to a duel. The two boys were sitting on the floor, the field spread out between them. Alvis watched them thoughtfully, chin in hand. Both Yugi and Ryou looked... different, somehow. Both of their eyes were narrower, and Alvis would have sworn that Yugi was taller than usual. Even their hair seemed subtly different. It was like they were entirely different people.  
  
Alvis shook her head. She was being silly.  
  
"Ha! I win!" declared Yugi, clearing his side of the field with a triumphant grin.  
  
Ryou scowled, but there was a hint of a smile behind it. "You always win."  
  
"Darn!" Joey exclaimed suddenly, looking at his watch. "I was gonna duel you, Alvis, but now it's too late. Oh, well. Smell ya later!"  
  
Alvis grinned and waved as the blond boy left with Tristan and Tea, and then she and Ryou left. They were followed by Yugi's singing: "Ryou and Alvis, sittin' in a tree..."  
  
Both turned and shook their fists at the annoying boy before rolling their eyes at each other.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Donovan visited Alvis in her dreams again that night.  
  
When she found herself among the purple-and-black clouds, the knight was nowhere in sight. He soon appeared, coming through the card-like door.  
  
"I want some explanations," Alvis said, half-glaring at Donovan. He smiled slightly. "First, who are you?"  
  
"I told you last time we met. I am Donovan. Sir Donovan of Dragon's Cove, to give my full title. As you must have figured out already, I am a knight. A knight of the Round Table."  
  
"All right. Second - why are you in a card?"  
  
The young knight smiled grimly. "I betrayed King Arthur. I tried to kill him. Mordred was my best friend. Merlin locked me into the card to punish me."  
  
"Wow." Alvis was astounded. Donovan didn't exactly seem the evil type, but what else was he if he was against Arthur? Arthur was good, right? "How come you can talk to me as a human? You're a dragon on the card."  
  
Donovan gestured to the sky. "This is the Shadow Realm. Anything is possible."  
  
"The Shadow Realm...? Um. Okay, how do you know I'm the one who's supposed to free you?"  
  
"Nimuë, the Lady of the Lake, made a prophecy: 'Soul imprisoned, caged and chained, Bound to battle, forced to fight, 'Til dragon's daughter, demon's hope, Brings you back into the light.'"  
  
"Dragon's daughter..." murmured Alvis. "You called me that the first time I met you. So, how am I supposed to free you?"  
  
"That I do not know," replied the knight, smiling ruefully. "You have to find that out for yourself. What I do know is that it involves the Millennium Items" JH\  
"The Millennium Items? What does that mean?"  
  
"Ask Ryou."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: That was a looong chapter - it's nearly three and a half pages in Word!  
  
Ryou: So Fade won't kill me now, right?  
  
GF: Right. I don't think she would have, anyway. She likes you too much.  
  
Donovan: At least I was in this chapter... How long is this story going to be?  
  
Chibi Donovan: Yeah! How wong id dis stowwy gonna be?  
  
GF: *shrugs* As long as it takes to get you out. But then you get another story, too!  
  
Donovan: Really? Cool!  
  
CD: Yeah! Weally cool!  
  
Donovan: Can't you get rid of him? *points at CD*  
  
CD: Yeah! Get wid of him! *points at Donovan*  
  
GF: 'Course not! He's so cute!  
  
Donovan: Which one?  
  
CD: Yeah! Wit won?  
  
GF: Both of you! *huggles both*  
  
Donovan: O_o *blushes*  
  
CD: Weview! Weview! Weview!  
  
Donovan: Don't you mean "review"?  
  
CD: Dat wat I sayed! "Weview!"  
  
Donovan: -_-  
  
GF: Awww... *huggles* 


	6. Chapter IV

GF: Hello to everybody! I had this written already and wanted to get it posted. Thanks to everybody who reviewed! *huggles reviewers*  
  
Donovan: GriffinFire does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Nor does she own Ankhkare and Senui, property of Indigo Tantarian, or Zekel Sha and Azuni, property of Millennium Slinky. Slink says to say "no stealing" in all caps and with three exclamation points. The portrayals of Merlin and Mordred in this story also belong to Millennium Slinky. Again, Slink says to say "NO STEALING!!!"  
  
CD: Yeah! No steawing! Dey bewong to Swink an' Indigow!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter IV  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Alvis rapped on Ryou's bedroom door at five-thirty the next morning. She heard a mutter of "Just a minute, just a minute," before the door was flung open to reveal a very grumpy Ryou Bakura in a T-shirt with a Change of Heart on it and boxers with Egyptian hieroglyphics on them, his white hair matted and his brown eyes clouded with sleep. "Alvis, do you know what time it is?"  
  
"This is important. What do you know about the Millennium Items?"  
  
Ryou sat down hard, all traces of sleep gone from his face. "Where did you hear about -"  
  
"Someone mentioned it, and told me to ask you," she said carefully.  
  
Ryou sighed. He pulled an odd golden pendant from beneath his shirt, and what appeared to be a golden eyeball from his pocket.  
  
"I think I should let them explain."  
  
Both items glowed, and two men stepped out of Ryou's body.  
  
Alvis gasped and backed into the wall.  
  
The man on Ryou's right looked almost exactly like him, with the same white hair and brown eyes, and Alvis quickly realized that it had been he who had dueled Yugi.  
  
The man on Ryou's left was much different. His hair was also pale, but was ivory instead of Ryou's silver. His skin was tanned, and his eyes were pale blue.  
  
Alvis simply stared, her mouth open. "Who are you?"  
  
Ryou's double grinned, and then spoke in a deep, rough voice. "I am a thief and a stealer of souls."  
  
Alvis looked as if she wanted to become a staple in the wall. Ryou elbowed the spirit in the side.  
  
"Or rather, I was. You can call me Bakura. Everyone does." He surprised both Ryou and Alvis by taking the girl's hand and kissing it. Alvis was surprised, but pleased, and she relaxed slightly.  
  
Then the other man spoke, stepping forward and bowing. "My name was Evandrien, but the Egyptians call me Zekel Sha."  
  
"I'm Alvis," the girl replied, a nervous smile touching her lips. "Ryou said you could tell me about the Millennium Items...?"  
  
"Right," Bakura began. "Long ago, the Egyptians played what they called the Shadow Game, pitting monsters against each other. The Games threatened to take over the entire world, so the Pharaoh Yami locked their power up into the seven Millennium Items. There are seven Items: Puzzle, Eye, Tauk, Ring, Rod, Scales, Ankh. A soul was imprisoned in each of the Items. The Pharaoh himself resides in the Puzzle, which is in the possession of Yugi Moto. I trust you've met him?"  
  
Alvis nodded. Yami was Yugi's taller self, the one who had dueled Bakura.  
  
"Zekel Sha, here, was trapped in the Eye. He can tell you about himself later. The Eye was previously held by Maximillion Pegasus, but I took it from -"  
  
"Pegasus?" interrupted Alvis. "The one who invented Duel Monsters?"  
  
"Yes, him." Bakura replied irritably. "But Duel Monsters was based on the Shadow Games; Pegasus didn't invent it. Anyway, Ryou's got the Eye now. He's also in charge of the Ring, which is my Item. I used to be a tomb robber.  
  
"Zekel Sha's friend - and I use 'friend' in the loosest sense of the word - was the seer of Alexandria, and he was imprisoned in the Tauk, which is now held by Isis Ishtar. The Pharaoh's High Priest lives in the Rod, so it should rightfully be in the hands of Seto Kaiba, Seth's reincarnation, but Isis's brother Malik has it. He's inhabited by another spirit, as well, his own dark side, known as Marik, but I'm not gonna go into that right now.  
  
"The Scales house Senui, a judge, and the Ankh contains Ankhkare, a healer. Both are held by Shadi, the guardian of the Items.  
  
"And I think that's all seven."  
  
"Would any of the Items be able to free a soul if it was trapped in a card?" Alvis began slowly.  
  
"The Eye could do that," Zekel Sha replied. "It can also put the souls into the cards, which I think is kind of stupid. Pegasus kept doing that..."  
  
"If the person had been turned into a different shape, would it be able to turn them back into a human? And what if the person's body had died?"  
  
"You'd need to use the combined power of all seven Items to make another body. Why?"  
  
Alvis spilled out Donovan's story, telling the three what the knight had told her.  
  
"So," she said, finishing, "can we get all the Item holders together so we can get Donovan out?"  
  
Ryou frowned. "That might be a problem. You see, Shadi, Isis, and Malik live in Egypt, and Malik wouldn't be very cooperative in the first place. And we might possibly need Kaiba, and he's not gonna be keen on this either."  
  
"But couldn't we just try?" Alvis pleaded, desperate.  
  
"I guess it couldn't hurt to ask."  
  
"You're going to need me." All four jumped as a voice came from behind them. They turned to see an old man in dark robes, a wooden staff in his hand. His long hair fell in silver sheets, and the irises of his eyes were gold. Another man stood behind him, dressed in black. He was younger, with sandy hair that nearly covered his piercing grey eyes.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Alvis, a puzzled frown on her face.  
  
"Some call me Merlin." He gestured to the younger man. "And this is Mordred."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: That's another pretty long chapter - two and a half pages.  
  
Donovan: Stupid wizard... *growls*  
  
CD: Yeah! Stupid wizad!  
  
GF: -_- Oh shut up, both of you... Review, guys!  
  
CD: Yeah! Weview! 


	7. Chapter V

Donovan: There is no spoon...  
  
CD: Dere id no spoon...  
  
GF: -_-() I shouldn't have let them watch the Matrix... Anyway, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
E-100 Alpha - For notes on Merlin, see the bottom of Chapter II. The really long paragraph.  
  
Indigo - *huggles* Thank you SO much for reviewing! I'm glad you like it.  
  
Blueraven - No, I'm not fast. Chapters III and IV were both written on the same day. Heh... I was gonna make it one long chapter, but I thought I'd get more reviews with two. And don't worry, I'll keep the chibi in line.  
  
Silver Dragon Golden Dragon - I think you're my first rabid fans...  
  
Molly Jean - I'm glad you like it! I didn't say, but I'm fourteen. I'd tell you how old Slink is, but she'd kill me.  
  
Kurai chan - *gives you more sugar* Have to keep my fans happy!  
  
Lady Silver Dragon - Heehee... That's two fangirls for Donovan!  
  
Jami krt - I think Tea's all right. I don't understand Tea-bashers at all.  
  
Millennium Slinky - Yeah, he's yours... Ryou's in boxers because it's five- thirty in the morning. Originally, he wasn't even gonna have a shirt on, so be grateful.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter V  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"You!" Alvis snarled, launching herself at the sorcerer. Ryou and Bakura leaped forward to grab her arms, but it wasn't necessary.  
  
Merlin merely raised his hand and Alvis struck an invisible wall. She fell back, rubbing her head, and glared up at the old man. The wizard glared back, a dragon's fierceness flickering behind his golden eyes.  
  
"I'd try to learn the whole story before attempting homicide, dragon's daughter."  
  
"I know enough," she spat, grey eyes flashing silver to Merlin's gold. "You stuck Donovan in that stupid card. He's been in there for nearly a thousand years. How many other people have you tortured like that?"  
  
"Donovan's the only one," said Zekel Sha.  
  
Alvis rounded on him. "And how would you know?"  
  
The spirit glanced at Merlin. "He once held the Eye."  
  
The girl turned back to Merlin. "So that's how you did it. You're no better than a thief. You stole his soul!"  
  
Mordred spoke for the first time, stepping forward to put his hands on Alvis's shoulders, looking down at her with grey eyes so much like her own. "Listen to me, Alvis. I thought the same way you do until I had a chance to talk to Merlin. He saved Donovan's life. He would have been killed otherwise. Merlin knew, somehow, that I'd still be around when Donovan was freed. In a way, our lives just got put off until now. Now we can free Donovan. But we will need Merlin's help."  
  
Alvis thought for a moment. She nodded, then grinned. "You know, it's kind of hard to believe that you're my great-great-great-whatever grandfather."  
  
The knight looked surprised, but then grinned back.  
  
* * * * *  
  
They called Yugi first. He agreed to help immediately, though Yami grumbled a bit.  
  
Shadi appeared through the floor a minute later, scaring Alvis and Ryou half out of their wits.  
  
Isis also consented to come, and promised to bring Malik with her if she had to drag him.  
  
Seto Kaiba, however, proved difficult. After half an hour, Ryou was still arguing with him.  
  
"Now, tell me again," said the teenage millionaire, "why you need me?"  
  
"Because you are the rightful holder of the Millennium Rod," Ryou answered, nearly crying with frustration. "I've told you that already!"  
  
Bakura had had enough. He snatched the phone and spoke into it in low, menacing tones. "Kaiba, if you don't get you sorry self over here, I will personally deep-fry your trench coat and force you to eat it."  
  
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Who are you?"  
  
The spirit of the Ring grinned wickedly. "I am a thief and a stealer of souls."  
  
Kaiba gulped. "I'll come, but I'm not making any promises."  
  
"Good." Bakura hung up, a satisfied smile on his face. He shook his head at the two teenagers doubled up in laughter on the floor. "Mortals."  
  
* * * * *  
  
By noon, the Bakura house was extremely crowded. All the Item holders had arrived, and so had Seto Kaiba. With eight ancient spirits wandering around as well, there was hardly enough room for everyone.  
  
Merlin called to Ryou over the chatter. "Is everyone here?"  
  
"Let me check one more time." The boy scanned the crowd. Yugi was talking to Alvis, examining her deck. Yami was chatting with Isis, probably about the Egyptian exhibit at the museum. Zekel Sha and Azuni, spirit of the Tauk, were yelling at each other in Latin. Ryou had just seen Bakura and Malik in the kitchen, raiding the fridge. Marik was deep in conversation with Seth, spirit of the Rod, who Kaiba was eyeing warily. Shadi and Ankhkare, spirit of the Ankh, were trying to drag Senui, spirit of the Scales, away from a box of chocolate.  
  
"Yep," Ryou said. "Everybody's here."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Soon enough, Merlin had the eight spirits, five Item holders, and one CEO seated in a circle on the floor of the living room. (Kaiba - "What is this, kindergarten?") Yugi, Yami, Zekel Sha, Ryou, Bakura, Isis, Azuni, Marik, Malik, Kaiba, Seth, Senui, Shadi, Ankhkare.  
  
Donovan's card rested in the center of the circle, twinkling in the light from the ceiling.  
  
"Now," began Merlin, "I want each of you to grasp your Item - or Items, as the case may be - both holders and spirits. That includes you, Kaiba."  
  
There was a slight scuffle over the Rod as four hands tried to find places on it. Mordred stepped in.  
  
"Do you see this sword? Yes? Good. If any of you disrupt this one more time, your neck will find itself lacking a head." All four instantly quieted.  
  
Merlin continued. "Concentrate your Items' powers on the card. Focus..."  
  
A surge of energy rippled through the circle, felt by both those in it and those outside it. It went around and around in ever-tightening spirals, closer to the card -  
  
And then the lights went out. Several people yelled. A low, wicked cackle reverberated through the room. A foul-smelling wind whipped around the seventeen people.  
  
"Black magic!" hissed Merlin. "Begone, demon!"  
  
The laughing stopped. The lights went back on. Mordred was white as a sheet, and visibly shaken.  
  
"What was that?" asked several people at once.  
  
Mordred answered, fighting to keep his voice calm. "My mother. Morgan le Fay."  
  
Suddenly, Alvis shrieked. Everyone turned to look.  
  
Donovan's card was gone.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Donovan: Great. Now I'm in the hands of a deranged sorceress.  
  
GF: *shrugs* Sorry. Did you think I was gonna let you out that easily? For the love of Kuriboh, it's only the fifth chapter!  
  
CD: Dewanged socceress!  
  
GF: Yeah...  
  
CD: Weview! Weview! Weview! 


	8. Chapter VI

Donovan: I'm not even gonna complain this time. Griff doesn't own Yu-Gi- Oh! The fortresses-in-the-Shadow Realm thing belongs to Slink, and so do the names of all the monsters besides me.  
  
GF: Good. You're FINALLY cooperating!  
  
Indigo - Are you online constantly? You reviewed about five minutes after I posted! I'll let Senui have his chocolate this chapter.  
  
Slink - -_-;; Whatever.  
  
Silver Dragon Golden Dragon - *nods* Yep, this WILL be good...  
  
Blueraven - Shorter chapters mean MORE chapters. ^_^  
  
Skyla - *glomps you back* Yay! I'm on someone's favorites list! *dances* Cameo? O_o Cool! I love that story!  
  
Jami krt - Glad you liked it! I'll go read that now...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter VI  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"This is crazy. It'll never work."  
  
"Of course it'll never work - it was the pharaoh's idea."  
  
"That's a one-way ticket to the Shadow Realm, tomb robber."  
  
"Good. We're going there anyways."  
  
"Yes, but you're not coming back."  
  
"Break it up, guys."  
  
"Stay out of this, Trojan!"  
  
Alvis sat up as what the spirits had said registered. "She took Donovan to the Shadow Realm?"  
  
The pharaoh nodded.  
  
"And we're going after him." It wasn't a question.  
  
Yami nodded again.  
  
"How are we going to get there?"  
  
Zekel Sha broke in. "We can use any Millennium Item, but the Ring works best. After we get in, we're going to have to actually find Morgan as well. We can ask the monsters."  
  
"The monsters?"  
  
"Duel Monsters. They live in the Shadow Realm."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Bakura began to mark a circle on the floor with duct tape. "We'll need everyone inside this circle so I don't have to stretch too much."  
  
This proved to be problematic as all seventeen people tried to fit inside the circle.  
  
Merlin sighed. "All yamis besides Bakura back in your Items, please." Seven spirits disappeared, and the remaining ten people filled the gaps.  
  
The spirit of the Ring nodded. "Right."  
  
The room shifted, and the purple-and-black clouds of the Shadow Realm appeared around them. In the distance was a mass of grey stone that looked something like a castle.  
  
The seven spirits instantly reappeared.  
  
"Whose fortress is that?" asked Yami.  
  
Bakura shaded his eyes and peered at the fortress. "Yours. It's got a big red thing wrapped around it."  
  
"Come on, then," said the pharaoh. "We can ask them if they know where the sorceress lives. No doubt her monsters have their own fortress."  
  
* * * * *  
  
When they reached the fortress, Alvis realized that the "big red thing" was actually a huge dragon with two mouths. Spreading across his face was what might have been a smile.  
  
"PHARAOH." His voice rumbled like thunder. {The gods speak in all caps. Slink's idea.}  
  
Yami nodded to him. "Osiris."  
  
The dragon suddenly disappeared. In its place was a man with green skin, wearing a pharaoh's crown and covered from his neck to his feet in what could only be mummy wrappings, his arms crossed over his chest and holding a rod and flail. The god Osiris.  
  
He nodded back to the pharaoh, then stepped aside to let them in.  
  
They passed through the huge stone gateway and found themselves in a large courtyard, with Duel Monsters scattered around. A Dark Magician and Magician of Black Chaos sparring with their staffs, a Mystical Elf talking to a Kuriboh, a Black Luster Soldier swinging his sword around, and a young woman with white hair sitting on the grass near him.  
  
The spirit of the Puzzle strode across the courtyard and tapped the Dark Magician on the shoulder. The purple-clad magician turned to look at the pharaoh and received a knock on the head from his opponent. He spun around and glared at the Chaos Mage.  
  
"Watch where you're swinging that thing, Chaos!"  
  
Chaos shrugged. "Sorry, Sinistrad."  
  
Sinistrad turned once again to the pharaoh. He smiled. "Hello. I see you brought company." He peered at the large group behind Yami, and waved to Yugi. "Why are you here?"  
  
Alvis spoke up. "We're looking for Morgan le Fay."  
  
Sinistrad blinked at her. "And you are...?"  
  
She stuck out her hand. "Alvis Pendragon."  
  
The magician shook it. "Pendragon, hmm? Anyway. Morgan -"  
  
"My cousin Lucifer is in her sister's deck." This came from the Black Luster Soldier, who had come up behind Sinistrad, followed by the white- haired girl. "She's probably with them. I'm Miles, by the way. And this is Amaranth." He gestured to the girl. She smiled at them, but stared straight ahead with blank blue eyes.  
  
"Lucifer's fortress is a few hour's walk from here, but only a few minutes if I take you," said Amaranth.  
  
There was much confusion over that last statement, but no one said anything.  
  
Chaos spoke up. "You could stay here tonight, if you want," he suggested. "We've got a few spare rooms."  
  
* * * * *  
  
As there were only three spare rooms, the spirits had to make do with their soul rooms in the Items. Senui had grumbled quite a bit, saying something about wanting to sleep in a real bed for once, but he had been satiated with a box of chocolate.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: ^________^ I have a Magic Cylinder! Happyhappyjoyjoy!!!  
  
Donovan: *blink* Whatever.  
  
CD: Weview! 


	9. Chapter VII

GF: Rrrrgh... Sorry about the lateness. I was being nasty to my bratty brother, so I was banned from the internet. In other news, Slink traded me her Scapegoats card! *huggles fluffy Scapegoats*  
  
CD: *rides around on blue Scapegoat's back* Wheeee!  
  
Donovan: -_-;; Anyway... We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
GF: Alright, some of this chapter might not make sense if you haven't read Millennium Slinky's "Daughter of Anubis", or at least "The Sound of Silence." If you haven't, here's the basics.  
  
The first you need to know is that, according to Slink, there are two sides of High Priest Seth - Yami Seth and Hikari Seth. The latter is in love with Inhatenankh Paidr, the half-Greek street urchin who became the High Priestess of Anubis.  
  
So, Yami Seth locks everybody in the dungeon, including Ankh, then sticks everyone EXCEPT Ankh into the Millennium items. (Slink uses Marik as spirit of the Rod.) Hikari Seth and Ankh have a mushy scene, and Yami Seth curses her with immortality. Remember, she is a priestess of ANUBIS.  
  
Ankh sits around in a tomb for a couple thousand years, until she senses Seth returning in the person of Seto Kaiba. She goes and tries to kill Kaiba, but can't do it, and we get another mushy scene.  
  
Then we have random minor happenings in the middle, and THEN they have to stop Yami Seth from taking over the world and/or the Millennium Items.  
  
I don't want to give away the ending, and I think that's all you need to know...  
  
By the way, did anyone figure out who Amaranth is? Tell me if you did, but don't cheat!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter VII  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The next morning (If you could call it a "morning" in the Shadow Realm), nine people emerged from the castle, yawning and stretching. However, all woke fully when they saw a Blue Eyes White Dragon in the courtyard. Kaiba sat down hard, and the others backed away quickly.  
  
"You don't recognize me?" the dragon asked in Amaranth's voice.  
  
The seated teenager slapped himself on the forehead. "I thought something seemed familiar about that girl," he muttered.  
  
Amaranth grinned, showing sharp teeth. "I would hope so. My brother and his friends are in your deck."  
  
Kaiba looked confused. "But you - Oh."  
  
The dragon nodded. "It took you long enough." She turned her blind eyes toward Yugi. "I belong to your grandfather, little one."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Half an hour later, two dragons - one of which was Merlin, who had revealed this talent rather late - and eight human were moving speedily through what passed for a sky in the Shadow Realm. Alvis, Ryou, Malik, and Kaiba were perched on Amaranth's back, while Mordred, Yugi, Isis, and Shadi were spread out along Merlin's.  
  
Unlike the other six, Mordred and Alvis were completely at ease on dragonback. The latter kept turning around to tease Ryou - his eyes were shut and his hands were firmly clamped around a large scale. Yugi and Kaiba were in similar situations, and the three Egyptians weren't exactly comfortable, either. Shadi and Isis seemed to have lost much of their usual dignity, and Malik was simply hanging on for dear life.  
  
They passed over two more fortresses - Bakura's and Marik's, the latter guarded by a large golden dragon - and the ruins of another, surrounding a huge blue something. Kaiba opened his eyes long enough to glimpse Obelisk the Tormentor, and quickly shut them again.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Around mid-morning, judging by Ryou's watch, they landed outside another fortress. Both dragons returned to human form, and the group cautiously approached the circular stone structure. Patrolling the walls was, appropriately enough, a Crimson Sentry. She spotted them, and yelled down into the courtyard. A Flame Champion appeared beside her and called out to them.  
  
"Who are you and what do you want?" he demanded.  
  
Merlin answered him. "We're looking for Lucifer."  
  
"You've found him."  
  
"Does Morgan le Fay live here?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"Would you tell us if we told you that Miles sent us?"  
  
Lucifer paused. He scanned the rest of the group. He started in surprise when he saw Mordred, and again when he saw Kaiba.  
  
"All right... Come in."  
  
The portcullis lifted, and the group of ten entered.  
  
The courtyard was round, like the outside of the fortress, and two towers were positioned near the back.  
  
Duel Monsters everywhere - Penguin Soldier, Fire Princess, Hysteric Fairy, Shadow Ghoul, Protector of the Throne, Invader of the Throne, Princess of Tsurugi, three Wingweavers, and a man with brown skin and dark green hair no one recognized.  
  
Kaiba thought he had seen all these monsters in the same deck before, but he couldn't think where.  
  
Lucifer stepped around a Niwatori Chicken and spoke to Merlin. "If you wish to speak to Morgan, follow me. But only four of you." He began to walk through a door in the base of one of the towers.  
  
Merlin indicated that Mordred, Alvis, and Kaiba should go with him. The young executive looked surprised, but complied. They followed Lucifer into the tower.  
  
The stair would around the inside of the tower, seemingly endless. Alvis groaned. "The very top of the tallest tower. I should have guessed." They started upward.  
  
* * * * *  
  
When they finally reached the top, Mordred and the two teenagers were gasping for breath. Alvis looked around in confusion. The stairs ended, but there was nowhere else to go. A dead end.  
  
The Flame Champion knocked on the stone ceiling with the butt of his sword. A small window slid open, and a pair of bright green eyes peered down at them. Mordred shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"They're here to see you, Morgan." Lucifer told the eyes.  
  
"Obviously," Morgan snapped, glancing at Mordred. The eyes disappeared. A short, spiraling stairway folded out of the ceiling, revealing an opening. The four climbed up, Alvis surprisingly calm.  
  
When they emerged, they found themselves in a small study, a desk in one corner and bookshelves filled with thick volumes covering the walls. Standing across the room from them was a woman in dark robes. Her long hair was raven-black streaked with purple, her skin slightly tanned, and her eyes the same startling green they had seen before. Morgan le Fay nodded toward her son. "Mordred."  
  
"Mother."  
  
Kaiba spoke up suddenly. "Those aren't your monsters, are they?" He jerked his thumb in the general direction of the courtyard.  
  
The sorceress's eyes narrowed. "No, Seto Kaiba, they are not. They were my sister's."  
  
"And who was your sister?" Kaiba's voice trembled slightly. He already knew the answer.  
  
"Inhatenankh Mharin Cunarel Diajii Paidr."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: Mwahahahaha! Almost-cliffhanger!  
  
Donovan: How is that anything like a cliffhanger?  
  
GF: Well, as Morgan IS the villain, she could randomly kill everybody, ne?  
  
Donovan: So where am I?  
  
GF: You're safe... For now. *smiles vampire smile*  
  
Donovan: -_-;; Great.  
  
CD: Am I in dis stowwy?  
  
GF: No... Go feed the Scapegoats.  
  
CD: ^_____^ Otay! *skips off to feed the Scapegoats*  
  
Donovan: *sigh* Review! 


	10. Chapter VIII

GF: I am SO sorry! I skipped out on you entirely last week! I'm really, REALLY sorry! I've got final projects due all over the place!  
  
Skyla - Heheh... Cliffhanger...  
  
Blueraven - I've had that problem many times. *nods*  
  
Anime*Angel*Fox - I'm glad you like it. Morgan being Ankh's sister was Slink's idea. Of course I'll read your stories!  
  
Jami krt - I'm happy if you're happy! And you're welcome.  
  
Blueraven - Twice for one chapter? Happy! Yeah, CD is cute, isn't he? *huggles CD*  
  
Lady Silver Dragon - Morgan being Ankh's sister isn't really important to the story - just a little background tidbit. And thank you! *huggles Get- Out-Of-Writer's-Block-Free-Card*  
  
CD: Shuga'! Shuga'! *runs around in circles*  
  
Donovan: -_-;; Yeah... Thanks! *strokes shiny swords*  
  
Silver Dragon Golden Dragon (After this, you're SDGD, okay?) - *nod* Ankh has a long name... And Morgan's Egyptian name is long, too... And Amaranth's blind because of some run-in with a bunch of mean monsters sometime after her card was ripped - lightning balls n' stuff flying around everywhere, y'know? Oooh... New chapter? Yay!!  
  
Donovan: Griff doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter VIII  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Down in the courtyard, the remaining six were making conversation with Inhatenankh Paidr's Duel Monsters. Ryou was getting along rather well with the Shadow Ghoul, whose name happened to be Fluffy. Yugi was chatting with the green-haired man, who was actually a Thunder Dragon in human form.  
  
Lucifer suddenly appeared. He grinned at Amaranth. "I don't suppose the Anti-DMG spray worked for Chaos?"  
  
The white-haired girl smiled broadly. "It did, actually. Apparently, Elanor doesn't like essence of ragweed."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Alvis, Merlin, Mordred, and Kaiba sat at a small table, being served tea by Meresankh Lapis Fayrouz Bastet Paidr. Alvis was trembling visibly, and Merlin patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. This, however, caused the girl to explode faster.  
  
She shot to her feet, knocking the table over and spilling tea everywhere. She pointed a finger accusingly at the sorceress, whose face was cold and emotionless. "I've had enough of this!" Alvis exclaimed, breathing heavily. "Why are we sitting here having tea?!?! What have you done with Donovan?" she demanded.  
  
Morgan seemed to flow out of her seat, her calm grace a sharp contrast to Alvis's explosive rage. When she spoke, her voice was flat, expressionless. "Come with me. Just you and Mordred." With that, she swept out of the room, followed closely by her son and her great-great- granddaughter.  
  
She led them down, down, down - back to the base of the tower. Then she led them down still further, through a trap door in the ground.  
  
Morgan took three lit torches from a bracket in the wall, silently handing one to Mordred and one to Alvis. The girl kept her eyes down, fastened on the hem of the sorceress's robe.  
  
Then another pair of feet appeared. Armored feet. Alvis's eyes traveled up armored legs to an armored torso. Her heart leaped - Donovan!  
  
But it wasn't him. His skin was tanned, his hair yellow. "Mordred! Imagine seeing you here," he exclaimed.  
  
The other knight smiled. "Percival."  
  
"What are you doing down here?" Morgan snapped.  
  
"Just making sure those torches haven't set anything on fire yet. Tell me again, why do they have to be lit all the time?"  
  
"Because I say they do! Get out of here!"  
  
Percival bowed, and then went in the direction they had come from.  
  
* * * * *  
  
At the end of the corridor was a door, huge and wooden, with heavy iron hinges and an ornate handle, also iron, fitted with a keyhole.  
  
Morgan placed her torch in a bracket on the wall before bending down towards the keyhole. She formed a triangle with her thumbs and forefingers and blew through it, into the keyhole.  
  
As it passed through the triangle, the sorceress's breath formed a key, misty silver, which drifted into the keyhole. It turned, and the door slowly creaked open.  
  
Morgan retrieved her torch and motioned to her two descendants to follow her, then entered the dark chamber beyond.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Merlin and Seto Kaiba appeared in the courtyard and joined the rest of the group, which now included a few Egyptian spirits. The CEO found himself talking to Amaranth about his Blue Eyes White Dragons, Apollo, Ganymede, and Io.  
  
* * * * *  
  
A pile of armor lay in a corner, along with a curved sword crowned with a dragon's head.  
  
Chains dangled from the far wall, holding prisoner the huddled for of Sir Donovan of Dragon's Cove. His tunic hung in tatters from his back, which was crisscrossed by angry red welts. He was thin - too thin, his bones easily visible through his pale skin.  
  
The knight's blue eyes, clouded with pain, flickered open as Alvis gasped. His gaze rested on Mordred and the girl and a ghost of a smile flitted across his face before his eyes closed once more.  
  
The other knight rounded on Morgan. "What have you done to him, Mother?" His eyes gleamed with a wild, angry light.  
  
She smirked. "I've locked him in a dank, dark, dirty dungeon, starved him, whipped him, and threatened to feed him to Fluffy."  
  
"Why?" Alvis asked softly.  
  
Morgan's smile disappeared. She turned away from Mordred and Alvis to stare at the young man curled up against the wall. "It's my curse. I live off the pain and fear of others."  
  
Alvis looked surprised. "And it's worth it? To be hated, despised by everyone? Just to go on living?"  
  
"I don't know." It was Morgan's turn to be confused. "I feel I have an unfulfilled purpose." She seemed to be almost a different person, softer, more vulnerable. But then she was the cold, hard sorceress once more. "Do you want to rescue him, little girl?" she sneered.  
  
Alvis stiffened. "What do you think?" she snarled back.  
  
"You'll have to duel me for him."  
  
* * * * *  
  
They walked quickly across the courtyard, gathering the rescue party as well as Inhatenankh's monsters as they went. When they passed through the huge gateway of the fortress, the clouds of the Shadow Realm lifted and molded themselves into the semblance of a dueling field, complete with a station at either end.  
  
Morgan leapt into one of the stations, a deck materializing in her hand as she did so. The platform slid upward, and Alvis stalked towards the other side of the field.  
  
"Wait!" Ryou ran forward and caught up with the girl. She turned to meet him. He took her deck and shuffled it quickly. He handed it back to her. "There. Now you're all set. You can win. I know you can."  
  
"Thank you," she whispered. Without another word, she climbed into the dueling station.  
  
As the platform clicked into place, Morgan smiled, showing all her teeth, like a predator anticipating a kill. "Scared, little girl?"  
  
Alvis scowled and slammed her deck into place. "You wish." She let a confident grin smooth over the frown. "Let's duel!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: Well, that wasn't my longest chapter, but it wasn't my shortest, either. I hope you liked it!  
  
Donovan: Arrgh, a cliffhanger. And I'm still in the dungeon. Lovely.  
  
CD: Weview!  
  
Donovan: Can't you be serious for ONE minute?  
  
CD: Not the mama!  
  
GF: -_-;; Oh, dear... 


	11. Chapter IX

GF: *sleeping on couch*  
  
Donovan: *pokes her* Wake up! We're supposed to do a chapter!  
  
GF: Five more minutes...  
  
Donovan: *pokes again* Come on!  
  
GF: No...  
  
Donovan: *throws CD at Griff*  
  
CD: Wheeeee! Wakey-wakey, Gwiff! *lands on Griff*  
  
GF: *jumps up* I didn't do it!  
  
Donovan: *taps foot* Exactly! You haven't updated for more than two weeks!!  
  
GF: Oo;; Ooops... Sorry, people! It's summer, you know? Too hot to do much other than sit in the pool. Plus, I'm lazy. And I had to find time to duel Slink, because Ankh's deck is hers and Alvis's is mine...  
  
Roy: *walks in* I made a Piña Colada, if you want some.  
  
GF: WAI! *glomps Roy* ^_^  
  
CD: Who dat?  
  
GF: It's Roy from Fire Emblem and Super Smash Bros. Melee!!! ^_^  
  
Roy: Ummm... Get off...?  
  
GF: No!  
  
Donovan: *twitch* *fume*  
  
GF: Huh? Oh! *lets Roy go* *glomps Donovan*  
  
Donovan: ^_^  
  
Roy: *smirks* Jealous?  
  
Donovan: Who, me? No! Well, maybe a little...  
  
Roy: *to CD* How about that Piña Colada?  
  
CD: Yeah!  
  
Slink: *appears out of nowhere* Margaritas are better!!  
  
Marth: *also appears out of nowhere* You know, you're probably giving the readers the impression that you both consume mass quantities of alcohol.  
  
Slink: ^^;; Riiiight...I meant a Margarita WITHOUT the rum. Like Griffie and Roy both luuuurve Piña Coladas...WITHOUT the rum.  
  
Marth: Right... -.-;; This has been a message from Slink.  
  
Both: *disappear*  
  
GF: *still attached to Donovan* *twitch* My name is NOT "Griffie"! _  
  
Donovan: 'Course not. *hugs Griff*  
  
GF: ^______________________^  
  
Roy: PDA [Public Display of Affection] alert! Whatever. That was a long Author's Note, wasn't it? CD, do the disclaimer.  
  
CD: No! Dat your job!  
  
Roy: *blinks* It is? Oh, well... Griff doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! - or Fire Emblem or SSBM or me, for that matter.  
  
GF: *STILL attached to Donovan* As always, read, enjoy, and -  
  
CD: Weview!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope  
  
Chapter IX  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"To make things more interesting, we'll start with eight thousand Life Points," Morgan declared as they drew their first hands.  
  
Alvis nodded looked at her cards - Sword of Dark Destruction, Mystic Plasma Zone, Sword of the Deep-Seated, Gaia Power, Man-Eater Bug [450/600] - and frowned slightly. It wasn't the best hand she'd ever drawn, but she'd be able to do something with it.  
  
"I'll go first," Morgan said. She drew a card and smiled. "I place one card face down, and I play Umi and Tornado Wall!" The field was flooded with water, but then that water twisted into long, liquid ropes, seeming to tie the field to the "sky" above. "As long as Umi is on the field, Tornado Wall protects me from all damage to my Life Points. Now I'll play the Griggle [350/300] in defense mode and end my turn." She smirked at Alvis. "You're not going to win this one, little girl."  
  
The girl scowled in reply as the tiny plant-like creature caused Morgan's Life Points to shoot up to 11000.  
  
Alvis drew a Crimson Sentry [1500/1200]. She could use that later with the Sword of the Deep-Seated, which would give a boost of 500 points to both her attack and defense. In the meantime, she put the Man-Eater Bug on the field. "I place one monster in face-down defense and end my turn."  
  
Morgan drew again. "I play Reinforcement of the Army, which allows me to move one level four or lower Warrior-type monster from my deck to my hand." As Percival stormed across the field with a troop of soldiers, Morgan selected a card and reshuffled her deck. She put a monster in face-down defense. "Your turn."  
  
Alvis picked up a Dark Hole. If she waited for Morgan to get another monster or so out on the field, she could wipe them all out, destroy Umi and Tornado Wall by playing Gaia Power, and attack her directly with the Crimson Sentry. "Pass."  
  
Morgan raised her eyebrows. "No good cards?"  
  
The girl kept her face impassive. "Perhaps, perhaps not."  
  
The sorceress placed another monster in face down defense and ended her turn.  
  
After drawing Dragon's Rage, Alvis smiled. "I play Gaia Power! Because it's a field magic card, your Umi is destroyed, along with the Tornado Wall."  
  
Morgan glared at the girl as the water disappeared.  
  
"Now I'll play Dark Hole, which destroys all the monsters on the field."  
  
The Griggle and all the face-down monsters dropped into a pit that opened beneath them. Morgan looked ready to kill. "I know how it works, girl."  
  
Alvis grinned. "Then you should also know what happens when I attack you directly with the Crimson Sentry, equipped with the Sword of the Deep- Seated!" The Sentry leapt toward Morgan, wielding the gleaming weapon.  
  
"I do, but you don't."  
  
"What?"  
  
Morgan flipped over a Trap card. "I activate Mirror Wall! The Crimson Sentry's attack causes only one thousand damage." The Sentry was stopped by a crystalline wall, which had grown up out of the ground. She hacked her way through it, and Morgan's Life Points dropped to 10000, but she looked pleased with herself. Mirror Wall was a continuous trap, so any attacks Alvis made would be cut down by half.  
  
As Morgan drew her next card, her Life Points went down - to 8000, the same as Alvis. Since the demise of Tornado Wall, Morgan had to pay 2000 Life Points during each Standby Phase to keep Mirror Wall on the field. "One monster in face-down defense, and I end my turn."  
  
Alvis drew and laid in face-down defense an Electric Lizard [850/800].  
  
The enchantress lost another 2000 Life Points with her next draw. She cursed quietly to herself in Old English, but a confident smile soon spread over her face. "You cannot win. My strategy is undefeatable. You will lose."  
  
Alvis felt her own confidence waver. She was up by 2000 Life Points, but still...  
  
"I lay one monster in face-down defense, and I activate the Flip Effect of the Mask of Darkness [900/400] - I can retrieve one Trap card from my Graveyard." The evil-looking Mask appeared, now in Attack position, and she took a card from her Graveyard and placed it in her hand.  
  
Her opponent was confused - there was only one card she could want, but Umi was also in the Graveyard, so she couldn't use Tornado Wall. Perhaps Morgan had a way to get Umi back, as well? If she did, she didn't use it. She ended her turn there.  
  
When Alvis had drawn her next card, Michizure, she declared, "I attack your Mask of Darkness with my Crimson Sentry." The Mask was split in two as the Sentry attacked it and Morgan lost another hundred Life Points. Still, the sorceress was undaunted.  
  
She drew, lost 2000 Life Points courtesy of Mirror Wall, placed yet another monster in face-down defense, and flipped into face-up attack position the Magician of Faith [300/400]. This was it - now she could retrieve Umi. Sure enough, Morgan selected a card from her Graveyard and replayed the combination of Umi and Tornado Wall. Alvis bit her lip as her Gaia Power was sent to the graveyard and the watery twisters reappeared. Morgan's Life Points were again safe from harm. "It's your move," the sorceress told her. "Or are you too scared to continue, little girl?"  
  
Alvis bristled. She needed a card that could destroy Umi or Tornado Wall. She drew. Shadow of Eyes. No. She placed it face down in case she needed it later. "I attack your Magician of Faith with my Crimson Sentry." The Magician was destroyed, but, thanks to Tornado Wall, Morgan didn't lose any Life Points.  
  
The older woman drew. "I place two cards face down and end my turn."  
  
Alvis was again disappointed with her next draw - Jigen Bakudan. Its flip effect would be of no use, as Morgan's Life Points were safe. She would only destroy her own monsters. "I place one card face down." She laid Michizure on the field. "Your turn."  
  
Morgan drew. "Pass."  
  
Alvis was surprised, but Morgan's face remained cool and passive. The girl drew Offering to the Doomed, but Morgan had no monsters face-up. "Pass."  
  
"Can the little girl make no moves?" Morgan mocked as she picked up her next card. "Or have you gotten cold feet?"  
  
Alvis ignored her, but she was getting more and more discouraged by the minute. She had never been a great strategist, always acting spontaneously, with no real thought. Morgan, on the other hand, appeared to have it all worked out, seeming to know that she would win. Alvis felt sure that she would lose.  
  
But she had to try.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
GF: *STILL STILL attached to Donovan* Mwahahahaha! Evil cliffie!  
  
CD: *tugs on Griff's sleeve*  
  
GF: *stroking Donovan's hair* Mmm?  
  
Donovan: ^^;;  
  
CD: Awen't you gonna weply to da weviewas?  
  
GF: !!! Gah! I forgot!  
  
SDGD - Errrm... Not EXACTLY... Something like that...  
  
E-100 Alpha - I hope you're happy with it! However, I've decided that I'm not good at writing duels... I don't think this chapter's so great. _ _;;  
  
TobyKikami - Yay! I'm unique! ^_^ Nope, never read Chrome Circle.  
  
Lady Silver Dragon - Thank you!  
  
CD: Shuga'-shuga'-shuga'! SHUGA'!! *bounces off the walls*  
  
GF: -_-;; *sprays Get-a-Chibi-Un-Hyper-Spray*  
  
CD: *stops* ^_____________^  
  
Skyla - Congratulations! You are exactly right! Ummm... *thinks up fitting reward* *lightbulb appears* Aha! Would you like a cameo in my next story? It's somewhat related to this one.  
  
Blueraven - Awww... the poor laptop! *gives you laptop band-aids*  
  
A*A*F - Hope you're enjoying the duel! I WILL get around to reading your stories... Sometime...  
  
GF: So many people know the Dinosaurs show!  
  
CD: *hits Donovan on the head with a pot*  
  
Donovan: X_x  
  
Roy: Review! 


	12. Chapter X

*Donovan is playing Duel Monsters with Bakura, and CD is gobbling chocolate in the corner.  Griff is nowhere in sight*

Bakura: *puts down a card*  So, what's Griff doing, anyway?

Donovan: *dully*  Catching Pokémon.

Bakura: *raises eyebrows*  Pokémon?

Donovan: *nods*  

CD: More candy!

Donovan: No.  *puts down a card*  Go play in traffic.

CD: 'Kay!  *runs off*

*a blue-and-purple streak flies by*

Bakura: What was THAT?  *puts down two cards*

Donovan: *shrugs*  I attack you directly with the Serpent Night Dragon.

Griff: *runs by wearing a red vest and black tanktop – apparently stolen from a certain dice-loving bishonen – and carrying a PokéBall*  I'll get you, Suicune!  *runs off*

Bakura: Guess it was a Pokémon.  I summon Dark Necrophilia.

Donovan: But why was she wearing Otogi's clothes?

Otogi: *runs by – sans shirt and vest*  Give me my shirt back, authoress-baka!  *runs off*

Slink: *chasing shirtless Otogi*  *wailing*  Come back!!

Donovan: *blinks*

Bakura: Griff doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! – she doesn't own Pokémon, either, except for a copy of the Crystal Version game.  Hah!  My Dark Necrophilia takes out the last of your Life Points!  I win!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope

Chapter X

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[Morgan – 3900 ~~ Alvis – 7700]

Morgan smirked as she slapped a card down on the field.  "I play the Thunder Dragon [1600/1500] in attack mode!"  A great green-and brown dragon appeared, surrounded by crackling bolts of lightning.  "Thunder Dragon, attack the face-down monster!"

The sorceress's smile never wavered as the rubbery, purple, almost-cute Electric Lizard appeared, sending out its own sparks to trap the dragon for one turn.  Then the Lizard vanished, destroyed by the dragon's attack.

"I end my turn."

Alvis bit her lip.  She had bought a little time.  She drew – Stamping Destruction.  No use, unless she got a dragon onto her side of the field.  Morgan couldn't attack her with the Thunder Dragon next turn, but she probably had another monster in her hand.  Alvis placed the Jigen Bakudan in face-down defense.

"Your move," she called to Morgan.

The older woman drew, the confident smirk still spread across her face.  "I place one card face down," she declared.  "And I end my turn."

Alvis drew again – Flame Cerberus [2100/1800].  "Pass."

Morgan did the same – a single monster in face-down defense.

As she slid the next card from her pile, Alvis shut her eyes and hoped for _something_ {Ooh, lookie, italics!  *pokes italics*} that would help her.  But when she opened her eyes again, she was holding the Mask of Brutality.  No help at all.  "I pass."

After drawing, Morgan placed another monster in defense mode.  "It's your turn.  Or would you rather quit now?"

Alvis scowled.  "You know the answer to that."  She looked down at her deck, again hoping with all her might.  _I need something to destroy Umi or Tornado Wall.  If I can do that, Morgan'll loose two thousand Life Points a turn.  I could win in two turns._  Alvis snatched the card from the top of her deck – Mystical Space Typhoon.

"Yes!"  She slammed it onto the field.  "I use Mystical Space Typhoon to wipe out Umi, again, and, again, taking out Tornado Wall in the process!"

The clouds above boiled, and a vortex appeared, spitting lightning.  It sucked the twisting pillars of water that were Tornado Wall up into itself.  Then the clouds meshed together again, as if the vortex had never existed.

Morgan's smile slipped for a moment, replaced by a fierce scowl.  But the scowl instantly disappeared, the sorceress's face again a mask of cold confidence.  She looked hard at Alvis.  "Do you honestly think that that one small victory will win you the match?"

"Probably not, but at the very least it'll help me."

"Does that finish your turn?"

The girl nodded.  "Yes."

As Morgan drew her next card, Mirror Wall sucked away another two thousand Life Points, leaving her with 1900.  "Well," she said, grinning slyly at Alvis, "It looks like that Mystical Space Typhoon won't help you as much as you had hoped.  I use Monster Reborn to summon the Griggle!"

The small leafy creature reappeared on the field.  When Morgan's turn ended, she would gain three thousand Life Points.  But the witch wasn't finished yet.

"I sacrifice my two face-down monsters to summon the Serpent Night Dragon!"

"_What_?" yelped Alvis.  She heard several similar exclamations of surprise from her friends as she leaned forward to stare at the deep blue dragon who had just appeared beside the Griggle.

Grey met garnet as the dragon stared back at her.  His eyes were sad, as if he didn't want to be here, didn't want to be doing this.

"Donovan?" she whispered.  Was Morgan using Donovan's card?  She had stolen it, after all.  The dragon slowly nodded.

"My turn's over, so are you going to move, or are you going to admire my newest acquisition all day?"

Alvis looked up at the smirking woman, her eyes like storm clouds.  "You monster," she spat.

Morgan raised her eyebrows at the insult.  "Calling names now, are we?"

Alvis didn't hear her, but continued her tirade.  "He's not an 'acquisition'!  You talk about him as if he's a trinket to put on your mantelpiece!  He's got feelings, just like – well, I'd say 'just like you and me,' but that wouldn't be accurate.  You don't _have_ feelings."

Morgan's face was twisted with hatred and rage, and her cold, expressionless mask shattered like ice.  "_Are you going to play or not_?" she hissed.

As Alvis drew, her opponent's Life Points shot up to 4900.  The Griggle had done its work.  The card Alvis held was Rush Recklessly.  That could be useful later.  "I sacrifice my Jigen Bakudan to summon the Flame Cerberus in defense mode!"  The huge dog appeared, three purple tails lashing, three flame-colored heads growling, six green eyes glowing angrily.  "I end my turn there."

When Morgan saw her next card, she began to laugh, even as her Life points dropped by two thousand.  The laugh started low, but grew until it seemed to echo off the clouds.  "You're done for, dragon's daughter," she cried, using the name mockingly.  "This card has sealed the match.  I've as good as won!"  She threw the card down onto the field.  "I play Soul Exchange!  I can use one of your monsters as a sacrifice instead of mine.  I sacrifice my Griggle and your Flame Cerberus to summon the Red Eyes Black Dragon [2400/2000]!"

Alvis heard a surprised shout from the side of the field – from Seto Kaiba.  "Ankh didn't have a Red Eyes in her deck!"

"No," Morgan replied quietly.  "He's mine."  Then she once again became haughty.  "I'm not going to attack you this turn, Alvis.  I'll give you one last chance to win – not that you'll be able to."

Alvis simply glared and drew.  Dragon's Rage.  There was nothing she could do this turn.  She thought quickly – despite what Morgan had said, she wouldn't be able to take out all of her Life Points in one turn.  Though it was slim, she might still have a chance.  "Pass," she muttered reluctantly.

Morgan looked incredulous.  "You're not even going to _try_?  I expected more of you."

Alvis said nothing.

The sorceress shrugged.  "Well, if that's how you want it."  She drew, her Life Points dropping to 900, and threw down the card.  "I play Remove Trap to destroy my Mirror Wall, and then equip my dragons with a Malevolent Nuzzler each, adding seven hundred points to each of their attacks.  In addition, I equip the Red Eyes with the Black Pendant, adding another five hundred points.

"Now, Red Eyes, attack her Life Points directly – Inferno Fire Blast!"

The Red Eyes spewed a glowing red globe, cracking with black lightning, directly at Alvis.  She gripped the sides of the dueling platform as her Life Points slipped down to 4100.

"And Serpent Night Dragon, do the same – Nightmare Sonic Blast!"

Donovan's eyes flickered apologetically as black shadowy things surrounded him, then sped toward Alvis.  She was knocked back again, this time barely managing to stay in the booth.  Her Life Points dropped further – 1050.

"Let's face it – you're done for!  You should quit now."

"No."

Morgan shrugged.  "If you _want_ to be demolished.  Go ahead.  Draw."

Alvis's hand hovered over her deck.  Could she do this?  Would this card be able to win the duel for her?

Sensing her hesitation, Ryou called up to Alvis.  "We believe in you, Alvis!  We know you can do it!  We're all behind you."  All the other spectators, human and Duel Monster alike, nodded and murmured assent.

Bakura was staring at the card on top of Alvis's deck, his eyes narrowed to chocolate slits, as if he could see through the back.  He looked into Alvis's face and grinned madly.  "You can win this."

She nodded solemnly, and drew.

Alvis stared, her eyes wide, at the card in her hand.  She didn't have one of these.  She didn't have a...

Wait a minute.  She looked back at Ryou questioningly.  He grinned, for a moment looking nearly as mad as his yami.  Then he winked.

All the confidence she had had at the beginning of the duel came back as she slapped Ryou's card onto the field.

"I play Change of Heart!"

Morgan's teeth ground together as the half-angel, half-demon appeared on the field.  She flew toward Donovan and kissed him on the nose before disappearing in a shower of sparkles.

The dragon glowed and disappeared similarly before reappearing on Alvis's side of the field, his eyes now glittering happily.

Morgan snickered slightly.  "You can't beat the Red Eyes with _that_ dragon, let alone wipe out my Life Points!"

"Guess again."  Alvis was pulling cards out of her hand, smiling.  "I have everything I need right here.  Donovan's already equipped with the Malevolent Nuzzler, and I'll add Rush Recklessly, Sword of the Deep Seated, and Sword of Dark Destruction, giving him a total attack of 4650, while the Red Eyes's is only 3600."

Alvis grinned as she saw the look on Morgan's face – utter disbelief.  "Donovan, attack the Red Eyes!  Nightmare Sonic Blast!"

The black, feathery shreds, like fragments of nightmare, sped toward the black dragon, making him disappear as he was destroyed.  At the same time, Morgan's Life Points fell to zero.

Alvis had won.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Griff: *rubbing Pokéball against cheek, now wearing her usual clothes instead of Otogi's*

Donovan: Now explain to me again _why_ you were wearing Otogi's clothes?

Griff: Because I wanted to!

Donovan: -_-;;  Great.

Griff: Right.  That was officially the LONGEST chapter we have yet had.  There will be at least one more, most likely two.  Now, reviewers.

Skyla – Well, Alvis did what you told her to do...  *pries Morgan out of the ground*

Blueraven – Don't damage your brain!  Not until you write the next chapter of Icetor Spire!

Silvie – Glad you're enjoying it!  Remind me to use that for an excuse next time I'm lazy.  And yes, the Get-A-Chibi-Un-Hyper-Spray is _very_ useful.

Ethelflaed – Hello!  *waves*  I'm glad you like it!  *bonks Beowulf*

Slink – *pokes you*  Stop doing that, will you?  Remember, I _do_ have less chapters than you.

A*A*F – Well, I enjoyed writing it!  Yes, I do like country music.  My favorite group is SheDaisy, but I don't know if you'd exactly call them country – though you find them in the country section at Best Buy.  And you're welcome!

SDGD – Alvis thanks you for your support.  *pokes Mini BEWD*  Where'd he come from?

Lauren Black – Thank you!

Griff: Before I get people yelling at me for being stupid – I know that in real life, Change of Heart is a fairly common card as far as starter decks are concerned, but for the sake of the story, Ryou is the only person we know who has one.  'Kay?  Donovan, where'd the chibi go?

Donovan: He went to play in traffic.

Griff: !!!!  _What_?!?!?!?  *runs out*

Donovan: Eheh...

Griff: *walks back in, toting CD*

CD: ^_^  Hewwo!

Griff: You are crazy, did you know that?

CD: Yep!  ^_^

Donovan: *rolls eyes*

CD: Weview!


	13. What We Were Doing

~*What Slink and I and our muses were doing when I _should_ have been writing Chapter X.*~

Slink: *waves tentatively*  H-hi!!!

Chaos: *deadpan*  Ignore her.

Marth: O.o;;

Slink: ???  Whassup?

Marth: What _is_ that...thing?

Slink: Oh, that?  *picks up Thing*  Where's GriffinFire?

Marth: *cautiously*  Why?

Slink: Not tellin' ya!!

Chaos: *leaning on staff*  *bored*

Marth: Why?

Slink: Not tellin' ya!!

Marth: Why?

Slink: Not tellin' ya!!

Marth: Why?

Slink: .  Quit with the 'why?'!!

Marth: ... ... ... Doushite?  [Why?]

Slink: ARRGHH!!

Chaos: *still leaning on staff*  *asleep*  Zzzzzz...

Slink: *hits Chaos over the head with the Thing*  Where's Griffie?

Chaos: *falls over*  Smurglenoof...

Slink: Snerrk!!

Chaos: Gribble!!

Slink: Murdd!!

Marth: Nani?  [What?]

Slink: . Babblink!

Marth: O_o;;  *backing away slowly*

Slink: Dové GriffinFire?

Marth: ... ... ... ...

Slink: *brandishes Thing*  Dové GriffinFire?  [Where is...]

Marth: GriffinFire non ici est.  [... is not here]

Slink: Et alors?  *crosses arms*  Elle est...elle est... *flips through le dictionaire de Français*  Elle est bizarre.  [She is strange]

Marth: Baka.  [Idiot, stupid]

Slink: Trottoir!!

Marth: ???

Antoine[1]: *appears randomly*  *whispers in Marth's ear*  She called you a footpath.

Marth: ???

Slink: Pâtisserie!

Antoine: *helpfully*  Pastry.

Slink: *narrows eyes*

Antoine: *disappears*

Slink: *trying to kill Marth*

Marth: *dodges*  *running away*  Kisadearuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!  [I hate you]

Slink: *lower lip trembles*  Marth-sama!!  Onegai!!  *as a last resort*  Aishiteruuuuuu!!  [Please -- I love you]

Marth: *from far away*  Usotsuki!!  [Liar]

Slink: Make inu!!  [Pathetic dog]

Marth: Shizukani shire!!  [Shut up]

Slink: *appears wherever Marth is*  *latches onto his arm*  Aishiteru aishiteru aishiteru!!

Marth: Kieru, onna!!  [Get lost, woman]

Slink: *blinks*  *giggles*  You're mixing languages, Marth-sama.  *sweetly*  'Onna' is chinese.  'Kieru' is Japanese.  *sticks tongue out*

Marth: *ignores her*  *begins to walk away*

Slink: *latches onto him again*  Matte!!  [Wait]

****Somewhere Else****

Chaos: *wondering where everybody went*

****Back to Marth and Slink****

Marth: *polishing sword*

Slink: . ... .  ... ^^ ... ^^V

Marth: So you ran out of Japanese phrases and words that weren't entirely random?

Slink: Hai, Marth-sama!!  *bows*  [Yes -- "-sama" shows respect]

Marth: *sighs*  ^^;

****Another Somewhere Else****

Griff: *waves*  Adsum!  [I am here]

Donovan: -_-;;  Great.  She's resorted to Latin...  Why?

Jack Sparrow[2]: B'cause she hates Italian, savvy?

Griff: Exactly!  Wait a minute...

CD: Whay'd yoo come fwom?

Donovan: *squints*  Aren't you that guy Griff's got on her wallpaper?  The pirate from that movie she's been obsessing over?  Jack Sparrow!

Jack: *grimaces*  It's CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow, savvy?

Will Turner[3]: *pops in*  Aye, avast!  *pops out*

CD:  *stares*  Dat's da wost piwate I've evah seen!  *pokes Jack*  I wike ya owtfit!  *POOF*  *CD is now wearing a pirate costume*

Donovan: You've corrupted the chibi, Griff.

Griff: ^_^  *begins to play with Jack's hair*

Jack:  OO;;  Oo;  ^_^

Donovan: *growls*

Griff: *ignores him*  *begin stringing beads in Jack's hair*

Donovan: *points sword at Jack*  Step away from the girl, and no one will be hurt!

Jack: *jumps up and draws own sword*

CD: ^_^  Yay!  Sawdfight!

Griff: -_-;;

Jack: *grins*  Do you really think it wise, crossing blades with a pirate?

Donovan: *raises eyebrows*  Do YOU think it wise to cross swords with a knight of the Round Table?

Jack: Perhaps.  I cheat, savvy?

Donovan: You talk too much.  *throws Jack backwards and out of the picture*

Griff: *glomps Donovan*

Donovan: ^_^

CD: *stringing beads in own hair*

Donovan: -_-;;

Mordred: *appears and puts a comradely arm around Donovan's shoulders*  So, how's life?

Donovan: ... ... ... ...

Slink: *appears, holding about five swords*  Hey!!  What about the swordfight?

Donovan: You missed it.

Slink: ... ... ... Pooh.

Marth: *rolls eyes*

Slink: *crosses eyes and sticks out tongue at him*

Chibi Chaos: *appears and pokes CD*  Hoo yoo?

CD: *fixes bandana*  CAP'N Thibi Donowan!

Griff: *still attached to Donovan*  *scowls at Mordred*  Go away!  We were having a fluffy moment!

Donovan: -_-;;

Mordred: *scowls*  *pulls out Excalibur*  I saw him first!!!

Slink: *whispers to Mordred*  Challenge her to a duel!!

Mordred: *throws gauntlet at Griff's feet*  I challenge you to a duel!!

Slink: *watching avidly*  *whispers into Mordred's ear*  To the death!!

Mordred: To the death!!  *whispers to Slink*  On second thought, why??

Slink: Never mind, never mind!!  *pokes him*

Chibi Chaos (henceforth known as CC): *watching CD*  *frowns*  *wrinkles nose*  Yoo a night!  Nights don' HAVE cap'ns!!  Nights are nights!!  Awen't yoo _Suh_ Thibi Donowan?

CD: I be a piwate now!  An' I be a cap'n!  Cap'n o' da Bwack Toobie Nooble!  [4]

Griff: *grabs Donovan's sword, knocks Mordred to the ground, and holds said sword to his throat*  *snarls*  I don't feel like killing you right now, but if you so much as TOUCH my boyfriend again, this sword will be in your gut before you can say "Merlin!"  Same goes for you, Slink.

Mordred: *mutters*  It's _Merlyn_, not Merlin, you dolt!!

Slink: Dolt?

Mordred: Stupid onna!!

Slink: *giggles*  Gundam Wing on the brain!!

Marth: *suddenly appears*  Why am I here?

Slink: Because you're a muse, you onna!!

Marth: *blinks*  Onna?

Slink: *giggling to herself*

Marth: *narrows eyes*  You just called me a woman.

Slink: *snickers*  If I could quote Griffie...Tiara-boy!!

Marth: *about to kill Slink*

Mordred: *to self*  For some reason, I feel forgotten...

Calanier[5]: *appears out of nowhere*  There, there...  *hugs Mordred*

Slink: *ignoring Marth*

Soma[6]: *appears out of nowhere*  ... ... ... ... ... ... ?

Slink: No, no, no!  You're supposed to say 'Why am I here?'

Soma: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Slink: *glomps Soma*

Soma: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...  *turns into a bat and flies towards the ceiling*

Slink: *squeals in delight*

Soma: *wishing he had hands to cover his ears*

Slink: ... ... ...  All right, it's not funny anymore.  Get down from there!!

Soma: *circles the chandelier [don't ask us how it got there!]*

Slink:  *wrinkles nose*  *pulls out butterfly net*

Soma: *flies out an open window*

Slink: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...  *cries*

Everyone Else: *ignores her*

Mordred and Calanier: *snogging*

CD and CC: *gazing up at them with frightened eyes*

Marth: *sigh*  Get a room.  You're corrupting the chibis.

Calanier: *hits him with a Freezie[7]*

Marth: *becomes encased in ice*

Calanier: *waltzes away*

Mordred: *disappears*

Slink: *runs off with the butterfly net to chase Soma*

Marth: *thawing*  /Help!!/

Roy: *appears out of nowhere and melts the ice with his sword*

Marth: *has frostbite*  Brrr...thag you berry buch...

CC: *pokes him*  See, yoo tawk wike us now!!

Roy: ... ... ...  *disappears*

Ra[8]: *appears in human form*  What the Afterlife…?

Griff: *blinks*  That's a new one...  *goes back to hugging Donovan*

Donovan: *to Ra*  Why are you here?

CD: Yeah!  Wy yoo heah?

Ra: *shrugs*  *to Griff*  Why AM I here?

Griff: *sing-songy*  Because I found out that you're real!

Ra: Really?  I thought I was a Chinese counterfeit.

Griff: I thought you were, too, but Slink learned that you aren't!

Ra: Great...  How long do I have to stay here?

Donovan: As long as you don't try to steal Griff, as long as you want.

CD: Yoah Wa, wite?

Ra: No, I'm Ra, the sun god.

CD: Dat wat I sayed!  Wa!

Griff: Here we go again...

Ra: *toasts Marth for the fun of it*

Marth: *burns into a crisp and disappears*

CC: Hey!!  Swink not gonna wike dat!!

Ra: *snidely*  It's not like she's gonna find out...

CC: *gazes up with big eyes*  Wai?

Ra: Kieru!!  *stalks away*

CC: Omae o kowosu!!  [I'll kill you (with chibi accent)]

Duo[9]: *appears*  *looks around suspiciously*  Who taught him that?

Everyone: *points at everyone else*

Duo: *looks around*  Where is this place, anyway?

Everyone Else: *give him funny looks*

**something lands on Duo's head**

Duo: GACK!!  *starts flailing around wildly*

Everyone Else: *sweatdrops*

**Quite suddenly, a bat flies off of the top of Duo's head and starts circling the chandelier...again...**

Duo: *patting down his hair*

Marth: *appears again, looking at the bat*  Isn't that that vampire creep?

CC: Yah!!

Marth: *sweatdrops*  That means Slink can't be far behind.  *disappears*

Everyone Else: *try to disappear but can't*

Slink: *charges in, still holding the butterfly net*  All right, where is – DUO!!!!

Duo: *is glomped*  Holy – 

Slink: No cussing!  *yanks on his braid*

Duo: *blinks cutely*  Who are you?

Slink: *melts*  Aawwwww!!!  *hugs him*

Duo: *turning blue*

Heero: *charges in and saves his fellow pilot from certain death by strangulation*  *to Slink*  Omae o korosu!!  [I'll kill you (without chibi accent)]

Slink: *sweatdrops*

Heero: *runs out, dragging Duo*  *slams door*

Slink: O...kay...

Bat-Soma: *hanging from the chandelier*

Slink: *narrows eyes and tightens her grip on the butterfly net*  *shuts the open window and locks the door*  Muah!!  Now you can't escape!!

Bat-Soma: *flies over and hides behind Griff*

Griff: *squeals*  Cute little bat-type thing!  *huggles bat-Soma*

Donovan & Ra: *roll eyes*

Ra: *to Donovan*  Aren't you gonna pry her offa him?

Donovan: Nah.  She's allowed to like cute little animals.

CD: *pokes bat-Soma*  Mawf sayed he a wampiah.

GF: Not right now he isn't!

Bat-Soma: *turning blue where he wasn't already* [Soma wears blue jeans, so in bat-form he's blue from the waist down and white elsewhere.]

Slink: *glares*

Griff: *scowls*  *drops bat-Soma*  *huggles CD instead*

CD: ^_^

Donovan & Ra: *roll eyes*

Bat-Soma: *miffed*  *hisses*  *turns into Dracula*

Everyone: OO;;  *back away slowly*

Dracula: MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- *reverts back to Soma as he suffers from lack of air*

Marth: *appears*  Ha!!  You should have known you'd never get rid of me!!  *glares at Ra*  Omae o korosu!!

Slink: *to Soma*  Hey, can I borrow a hundred and fifty bucks?

Soma: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Slink: v.v  Must...have...lovely...boxed...set...  *drools*

Marth: Rabies!!

Slink: Shut up, you fool!!  *wipes mouth*  Oh yeah, I forgot!!  *hands Roy plushie to Griff*

Griff: *grabs Roy plushie*  Finally!  *huggles plushie*

CD: *eyes plushie warily*

Ra: *to Marth*  You CAN'T kill me.  I'm a god, remember?  *smirks*  Or is that tiara on too tight?

Griff: *still clutching plushie*

CD: *lip quivers*

Griff: *still huggling*

CD: *bawls*

Griff: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  *throws plushie somewhere she'll find it later*  *huggles CD*  I'm sorry!  I'm sorry!

Donovan & Ra: *roll eyes*

CD: *sniffles*  *stops*

Griff:  *cuddles CD*

CD: ^_^  *falls asleep*

Griff: *smiles*  He's so cute...

Donovan & Ra: *roll eyes*

Griff: *to Slink*  I told you I'd help you buy the boxed set.

Donovan: Boxed set of WHAT?

Ra: The entire Gundam Wing series, all forty-nine episodes.  As if they didn't have enough Yu-Gi-Oh!!

Donovan: How come you know this and I don't?

Ra: 'Cause I've been living in her head for a while, and you've been wandering around outside, where there isn't as much intelligence floating around.  *looks pointedly at Donovan*  Obviously.

Donovan: *growls*  *pounces on Ra*

Ra: *reverts to golden griffin form*

Griff: !!!!!!!!!!  *puts CD on convenient cushion*  *holds up Chinese Ra card*  Ra, return!

Ra: *disappears*

Donovan: *stands up and straightens hair*  You sound like a Pokémon trainer.

Griff: *grins wolfishly*  I AM a Pokémon trainer.  *shows off Pokéballs*  The Johto League Champion to be exact.  AND I beat Ash, though I have no idea what THAT makes me.  *holds up a Pokéball*

Donovan: O_O  Not in here!

Griff: *smiles evilly*  Suicune, I choose you!

Suicune[10]: *appears*  *sighs*  I suppose it's traditional – why am I here?

Griff: *points at Marth and Soma*  Because they're getting annoying!  Suicune, use Aurora Beam!

Suicune: *rolls eyes*  *sprays millions of ice pellets at Marth and Soma, freezing them*

Griff: *smirks*  Suicune, re—

Suicune: Wait a sec!  Don't I get to hang around?

Griff:  I didn't think of that...  Sure!  *to Slink*  Why hasn't your love interest appeared yet?

Slink: *pouts*  He went to the Bahamas.

Marth: *thaws*  No I didn't!!

Soma: *at the same time*  ... ... ... ... ... ... ...!!

Slink: *rolls eyes*  Clueless...

Marth & Soma: *glare at each other*

Slink: *unlocks the door and walks away*

**Several hours later**

Slink: *walks back in, followed by Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Zechs, and, unfortunately, Relena[11]*  *frowns at last character*  Why're you here?

Relena: I came to save Heero!!

Slink: -.-  Gah...for your information, I don't like you.

Relena: *blinks*  Why?

Slink: You have a _pink_ car!!

Relena: What's wrong with that?

Slink: *ignoring her*  A Ra-forsaken PINK CAR!!

Relena: ... ... ... It's my favorite color.

Slink: *ignoring her*  ... ... ... ... ... ...  *stares around at assembled characters*  *giggles*  Heerrrrr-rrrro Yu-ee!!

Heero: ... ... ... ... ... ...

Slink: Hmmm...now I can understand why _she_ - *glares at Relena* - is so obsessed with saying your name.

Heero: ... ... ... ... ...

Slink: Heerrrrr-rrrro!  Rrrrrrrrrr!!

Other Gundam Wing Characters: *look around nervously*

Zechs: *is glomped by Griff*

Griff: Yeeeeeeeeeeee!  *tears off silly mask-type thing*  Purty hair!  Purty hair!  *pats said hair*  Purrrrrrr...

Zechs: Err...

Suicune: *rolls eyes*  *disappears*

Griff: ^_^  Meow!

Zechs: Oo;;

CD: Gwiff tuhn into a neko! [cat]

Donovan: -_-;;

Neko-Griff: Meow!  *jumps off Zechs and sits behind Duo*

Zechs: *replaces mask*

Neko-Griff: *swats Duo's braid*  Mew?

Duo: -_-

Neko-Griff: *latches onto said braid*

Duo: Oo;;  ITAI!!  [Ouch!]

Neko-Griff: ^_^  Meow!

CD: *looking up at Wufei, thumb in mouth*

Wufei: _  Whad'ya want, weakling?

CD: *removes thumb*  Yoo got thupid panths!

Wufei: ... KILL!!!  *pulls out katana* [type of sword]

CD: !!!  *jumps at Donovan*  Hep meeeee!!!

Donovan: *catches CD*  Oomph!  You're heavy for a little guy...

Wufei: *charging at CD and Donovan*  KIILL!!

Donovan: Oo  Yipe!

Neko-Griff: Meow?  Meow!!  *lets go of Duo's hair*  *goes back to normal*  *snaps fingers*

Wufei: *still charging*  KIII—  *disappears*

Donovan: *blinks*  Oh.  *puts CD down*

CD: Oo  Wuffie scawwy!

Griff: Poor baby...  *huggles CD*

CD: ^_^

Griff: 'Kay!  *puts down CD*  *glomps Quatre*  Hi, Cat!

Quatre: *blinks* Um, hi...

Donovan: *scowls*  Alright, you've had your fun!  *grabs Griff's legs*  You've hugged both Zechs and Quatre, played with Duo's hair, and made fun of Wufei's pants.  That's all you wanted to do, right?  *tugs*

Griff: *glares*  Hey!

Quatre: *turning slightly blue*  Please, take her!

Donovan: *tugs again*

Griff: *lets go*  *twists about and huggles Donovan*

Donovan: O-kay...  ^_^

CD: *pokes Quatre*  You ahmost ad cute ad me!

CC: *pokes CD*  Id not _coot_, it _kawaii_!!

Slink: -.-;;  Great.  
Quatre: ???

Slink: Ignore them.

Quatre: All right...  *stares into space*

Slink: *blinks several times*  ... ... ...  *lightbulb goes off over head*  *presses Big Red Button*

Quatre: ???  *is now playing violin, accompanied by Trowa on flute*

Trowa: ???

Slink: Tee hee...

Relena: Oh, Heero, come and kill me!!

Heero: Hn.  *pulls gun out and points it at her*

Relena: !!!

Heero: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Slink: *helpfully*  You _did_ ask him to kill you.

Relena: Ulp...  *gets in pink car and drives away through a hole in the fabric of the universe*

Heero: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...  *sighs in relief*

Duo: *tilts head to one side, puzzled that Mr. I-have-no-emotions-whatsoever Yuy is making a noise other than 'Hn'*

Slink: *oogling Duo and Heero*

***Five minutes later***

Slink: *oogling Duo and Heero but not really looking at them*  ... ... ...

Marth: *whaps Slink over head with flat of sword*  Snap out of it!!

Slink: Gurgle smurf iiiiigg snerk blurg!

Marth: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... and that means?

Slink: ... ... ...

Marth: I thought so.  *raises eyebrow*  And?

Slink: Right.  *blinks*  What happened to my gorgeous Soma?

Bat-Soma: *hanging from the chandelier*

Slink: *blinks*  Oh.

Bat-Soma: *ignoring her*

Quatre and Trowa: *still playing flute and violin*

Slink: Okay, you can stop now...

Quatre and Trowa: *try to put down their instruments – they don't succeed, as Slink has superglued them to their hands*

Quatre: *blinks cutely*  Um...excuse me?

Slink: *grinning evilly*  Yes?

Quatre: Help?

Slink: No.

Trowa: *pries flute off his hands*

Slink: WHAAAAT?!?

Trowa: *smirks – though you can hardly see it behind the hair*

Slink: ... ... ... not fair.  You aren't allowed superhuman strength.

Trowa: ... ... ... ... ...

Quatre: *pouts, as violin is still stuck to his hands*

Slink: All right, all right!!  *pushes Big Red Button*

Quatre: *drops violin*

**Let's see now – how many people are still in the room?  ...Slink, Marth, Soma, four of the Gundam pilots, Zechs, Chibi Chaos, Chibi Donovan, Donovan, and Griff.  That's twelve people.**

Trowa: *disappears because Slink doesn't like his hair*

**Eleven now...**

CC: *disappears to go find the other version of himself*

**Ten...okay, that's good.**

Slink: All righty!!  ...I'm bored.

Marth: *mutters*  Ra save us.

Slink: *hits him over the head with a frying pan*  No no no no no no no!!  You're Japanese!!  Not Egyptian!!  No Ra for you!!

Marth: X_x  *can't hear her, as he is currently unconscious*

Slink: *sigh*  *throws frying pan into the air*

Heero: *is hit by frying pan*  ... ... ...  *blinks*  *fries Slink with the patented Deathglare*  Omae o korosu!!

Slink: *blinks*  He survived!!

Heero: ... ... ...

Slink:  Or else his skull is made of steel...  *raps fingers against Heero's head*  Nope, must be all that hedgehog hair.

Heero: Omae o korosu!!  *tries to pull gun out of somewhere*  ???

Slink: Tee hee.  *holds up Heero's gun*

Heero: ... ... ... ... *glares at Slink*

**Two hours later**

Heero: ... ... ... *still glaring*

**Four hours later**

Slink: *hair is smoking*  Whaa??  YIPE!!!  *begins to run around room screaming at the top of her lungs*  HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP – *runs into wall*  *muffled*  HALP!!

Heero: *still glaring*

Slink: *ends of hair are beginning to curl from the heat*  MEEEEEEP!!

Heero: Hn.

Duo: *watching in confoozlement*

Slink: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  *runs around the room again, trampling Duo and Zechs*

**The door opens.  Someone new steps into room**

Slink: Squee!!  *executes the Flying-Tackle-Glomp perfectly*

Chaos: *is smothered*  Gah...

Slink: *happy happy joy joy*

Chaos: *deadpan*  Your hair is smoking.

Slink: *deflates*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[1] – Antoine – A character from Slink's universe.  An iruk.  French.

[2] – Jack Sparrow – From the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.  Played by Johnny Depp.  Always slightly drunk.

[3] – Will Turner – Also from PotC: TCotBP.  Played by Orlando Bloom.  A blacksmith trying to be a pirate.

[4] – Toobie Nooble – Our name for those Styrofoam noodle-things you float on in the pool.

[5] – Calanier – Another character from Slink's universe.  Daughter of Merlyn (Chandrilír Frostflame).  Half-dragon.  In love with Mordred.

[6] – Soma – The main character in the GameBoy game Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.  Heir to Dracula's powers.

[7] – Freezie – Ice-thing from Super Smash Brothers Melee.  Throw it at someone to encase them in a block of ice for a few seconds.

[8] – Ra – The god card.  It's a griffin I tell you!!!  Where did the dubbers get "Winged Dragon" from?

[9] – Duo Maxwell – A character from Gundam Wing.  One of five 15-year-old Gundam pilots.  Gundam: Deathscythe.  Wears his hair in a long braid.  Calls himself the "God of Death."

[10] – Suicune – My favorite Pokémon.  A blue-purple-white dog type thing.  One of the three Legendary Beasts.  I consider Suicune to be female.

[11] – Gundam Wing Characters – Heero Yuy – 15-year-old Gundam pilot.  Gundam: Wing.  The "Perfect Soldier".

Trowa – 15-year-old Gundam pilot.  Gundam: Heavyarms.  Works in a circus.  Plays the flute.  Has weird bangs that stick out about two feet.

Quatre Raberba Winner – Pronounce Ca-tra.  15-year-old Gundam pilot.  Gundam: Sandrock.  Plays the violin.  KAWAII!

Chang Wufei – 15-year-old Gundam pilot.  Gundam: Shenlong.  Buys explosives.  Wears stupid pants.

Zechs Merquise (Milliardo Peacecraft) – 19-year-old Gundam pilot.  Gundam: Epyon.  Has purty long blond hair.  Hides from the fangirls with a weird mask-thing.  Prettyfulness...  *sighs*

Relena Peacecraft – In love with Heero.  Younger sister of Zechs.  Kind of weird.  Has a pink car.


	14. Chapter XI

**Griff, Donovan, and CD are barricaded behind what appears to be a table turned on its side.  Vegetables pelt them**

Griff: *whimpers*  *yells*  I'm sorry!  I've had lots of things to do!  And it didn't help that FF.Net was deciding not to exist yesterday!  I would have uploaded earlier today, but I was watching The Two Towers, as everyone should've.  Yay Leggy!  *glomps Legolas*

Legolas: *blinks confusedly*

Donovan: *glares*

Griff: Eheh...

CD: Gwiff no own Yu-Gi-Oh!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope

Chapter XI

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Donovan awoke to find himself lying on something soft.  He kept his eyes firmly shut, and it took him a moment to realize that he was on a bed, and his head was cushioned by a pillow.

He cracked his eyes open, and peered around blearily.  Was this still the Shadow Realm?  It couldn't be.  The walls were painted light green, and the décor was nothing like the medieval-style most Shadow Realm castles had.

For the first time, he noticed the worried face looking back into his.  Mordred smiled.  

"You're finally awake," he said.  "Welcome to the real world."

Donovan blinked, bringing the room into sharper focus.  "How'd I get out?"  Then he looked at his best friend.  "What on Earth are you wearing?"

Mordred looked down at his T-shirt and jeans, both his usual black, and chuckled.  "Modern clothes."

The younger knight sat up, bracing himself for the pain of multiple lashings, courtesy of Morgan.

But it never came.  Donovan craned his neck over his shoulder, trying to get a better look at his bare back, noting the lack of red stripes.  He frowned in confusion.  "What happened?" he asked.

"My mother fixed you up before sending us all back here."  Mordred gestured vaguely, referring to the "real world" in general.

"_Morgan?_"  Donovan was incredulous.

The blond man nodded.  "She said Alvis freed her from some curse by defeating her in the duel."

Donovan smiled, remembering.  "Do you know, I'd never done that before."

"Done what?"

"A duel like that.  They're not as technology-crazy in England as they are here in Japan.  It was always just the cards."

Mordred nodded slowly, a bit confused.  Then he started to stand up.  "The others will want to know that you're up.  Alvis and Ryou just got back from school."

"How long have we been back?"

"Only a few hours.  It's still Tuesday."  He turned to leave, but Donovan stopped him again.

"Could you get me a shirt?"

* * * * *

Wednesday afternoon found Alvis, Ryou, and Donovan saying their goodbyes to Mordred and Merlin, Mordred again dressed in what he had been wearing when he had arrived in Domino.  Merlin smiled as Alvis asked for what seemed like the hundredth time where they were going.

"Another world – my world.  You wouldn't be able to reach it by modern methods."

Mordred suddenly drew Excalibur from where it was sheathed at his side.  He turned it around and handed it to Alvis, the hilt towards her.  "You've earned this, I think," he told her.  "Keep it as a souvenir."

The girl grasped the hilt, and for a moment they all saw her as she would have been in King Arthur's time – a lady knight, clad in shining armor.  But then the image faded, and she handed Excalibur back to Mordred.  "I think you'll need it more than me."

He nodded and re-sheathed the sword.

"Don't go getting yourself killed."  This came from Donovan, who was narrowing his eyes at Mordred.  "You're still my best friend."

Mordred clapped the other knight on the shoulder, smirking slightly.  "Don't worry.  You can learn a lot in the way of survival skills over fifteen hundred years."

With a final wave, the knight and the sorcerer walked down the street and winked out of sight.

* * * * *

The next morning, Donovan sat on a kitchen stool, staring morosely at the floor below.  He was dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans borrowed from Ryou's father – at six-two, he could hardly fit into the clothes of Ryou himself, which Mordred had been wearing.

Mordred.

_My best friend's gone_, he thought, unknowingly echoing Mordred's thoughts of fifteen hundred years before.  _We had a day together, and now he's gone again._

A bowl of some fluffy white substance, spotted with creamy lumps, appeared in Donovan's line of vision as Ryou's hand slid it across the counter.  The knight looked up and blinked at Ryou.  Over the boy's shoulder he could see Bakura and Zekel Sha fighting over a pot of coffee – this was a morning ritual.

When Bakura drew a knife, apparently intending to cut the other spirit's fingers away from the coffeepot, Ryou sighed and stood up to try to separate them.

Donovan's gaze shifted to Alvis, who was studying him thoughtfully, a spoon protruding from her mouth.  Donovan picked up a spoon from the counter and poked at the substance in his bowl with it.  He was slightly surprised to find that he could cut through the substance easily.

"What is this?"

Alvis removed the spoon from her mouth.  "Try it," she replied.  "You'll like it."

"That doesn't answer my question," Donovan grumbled.  But he tried it anyway.

Taking a large spoonful, he brought the glob of stuff into his mouth.  His eyes widened – it was _cold_!  They grew even larger as his head began to throb.  He grunted in pain before he swallowed and clutched at his head, trying to make it stop.

The warring spirits looked up from where they were glaring daggers at each other over the coffeepot – Ryou had disarmed Bakura, but had been unable to separate him from either the coffee or his opponent.  Tomb robber and Trojan stared at the knight for a moment before bursting into hysterical laughter.

The spirit of the Ring temporarily forgot the coffee, but Zekel Sha kept his hold on the pot, coffee sloshing about inside as he shook with laughter.  Alvis laughed along with them, and even Ryou, smiling sympathetically, couldn't keep back a few chuckles.

"Never had ice cream before?" Zekel Sha choked out.

Donovan threw a spoon at him.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Griff: *dodges a few vegetables*  Yes, I know it took five and a half weeks to get this out!  *gets hit by a tomato*  Ugh...  *wipes face off*  But I'm sorry!!!

Donovan: I don't think they care, Griff.

Griff: *scowls*  You're no help.  There's one more chapter to go, people.  That'll be the epilogue.  Then I've got a couple more stories floating around in my head.  *begins counting on her fingers*  There's Donovan's history, which might or might not be in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Section, seeing as there's not much YGO material, besides the whole card thing, which will be at the end, plus Merlin having the Eye.  Tell me, how many people noticed that he had both his normal eyes in place when he appeared after the prologue?

Donovan: *raises eyebrows*  He did?  I sure didn't notice.

Griff: Hmph.  Anyway, then there's the crossover with _The King Must Die_ from my summer reading list.  And then two humor fics, "Road Trip" and the continuation of the random insanity featured last chapter.  And possibly Alvis's preincarnation's life in Egypt.

Alvis: *pops in*  I had a preincarnation?

Griff: Uh, yeah.  Everybody seems to, and I had a good idea for the story.

Alvis: Oh.  *pops out*

Griff: I've also got my original fantasy novels, which Slink has been bugging me about...

Gryphos and Drachon: *wander in and look around curiously*

Griff: *blinks*  Where'd _you_ come from?

Drachon: *shrugs*

Gryphos: Why are we here?

Donovan: *to Griff*  Who are they, and why do they look an awful lot like us?

Griff: They're the gods of Aeren, which I think you should know as my personal fantasy world.  You might call them our yamis, though they essentially _are_ us.

Donovan: -_-  Now there's a scary thought...

CD: *sitting on a pile of chocolate*  *waves to the readers*  Hewwo!!  ^_^  *starts bouncing around at high speed*

Griff: Gah...  *sprays him with Chibi-Un-Hyper-Spray*  Anyway, my ever-faithful reviewers!

Karania Avalon – Thank you very much!  I am!

Zatken – Thank you!  Hooray for the Arthurian era!  *glomps Donovan*

Skyla – Thanks very much!  *glomps Baku-chan*

Flaed – It's only interesting from a certain point of view.  A Zechs rules!  *glomps Zechs*

WolfYoukai64 – Wait a minute, when'd you change your name?  *shrugs*  Of course I care!  Please write more?  Oooh, you're writing a novel?  Cool...  What's it about?

SDGD – Kawaii!  *huggles Mini BEWD*

Fade – Glad you like it!  Here, have some sugar!  *gives you a Big Bag o' Sugar™

Griff:  *finds herself holding Donovan, Bakura, Zechs, and Silver's mini BEWD*  Eheh...  *lets them all go, and all except Donovan wander away*  By the way, anyone who can figure out what kind of ice cream they were eating in the chapter gets a cameo in "Road Trip"!

CD: Weview!eHe turned i


	15. Update Later Today!

Hello people! The Epilogue is finished, but I'm sitting here in an R3 study (the school library has computers) and I didn't have a chance to put the file onto my floppy this morning. It WILL be up later this afternoon, I promise!  
  
Here's a little something to tide you over until then. This came off my latest vocabulary test - we had to write a short story with five of our words. One of those being "chivalry," Donovan had to be in it. My English teacher has a taste for the strange and random, so I felt he could deal with this.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Griff, writer of fanfiction, stood on the rocky promontory above the waves, gazing out to sea. She poured a libation of pink lemonade onto the rocks before raising her arms in supplication to the gods of FanFiction.Net, praying for the first of her muses to become real.  
  
And there before her appeared Sir Donovan of Dragon's Cove, flower of chivalry, rescuer of fair maidens and sparer of the lives of his enemies, Griff's first and favorite muse. He blinked in confusion, holding up his translucent hands (which were quickly becoming more solid) and peering at them curiously. "Why am I here?"  
  
The authoress let out a war cry and performed a perfect Flying-Tackle- Glomp, attaching herself firmly to the knight. He looked down in surprise, then turned his eyes to the heavens. "Why me?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
May I note that I got a hundred on this test? *glomps English teacher*  
  
The rest of the test consisted of a fill-in-the-blanks thing, and the story chronicled the events following the transformation of Binky the Squirrel into roadkill. Many SPLAT!s in this story. Yes, my English teacher is strange. Yes, we love him for it.  
  
The story of a friend of mine, whom I shall call "ShadowWind" (you know who you are!) wrote a story where our English teacher went SPLAT! And then ShadowWind himself came along in his yacht. Strange kid.  
  
Remember to come back later for the Epilogue to DDDH! 


	16. Epilogue

Griff: *playing Dungeon Dice Monsters on a red GameBoy Advance SP, completely oblivious to everything*

Donovan: *whacks Griff with his sword*

Griff: *doesn't notice*

CD: *begins climbing up towards Griff's shoulders*

Chibi Zechs (b-day pressie from Slink!): *follows him*

CD/CZ: *shriek into Griff's ears*

Griff: *glasses break*  *blinks*  Whaaa...?

Donovan: *taps foot*  Well?

Griff:  *fixes glasses with Authoress Powers*  Well what?

Donovan: Aren't you going to write the Epilogue?

Griff: *pouts*  I was waiting for SDGD to review the last chapter.

Donovan: *but you promised yourself to finish the story by your birthday, which _happens_ to have been two weeks ago.  So write!  *drags Griff to the computer*

Griff: Awww...

Chibi Zechs: *waves*  Gwiff dowsn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope

Epilogue

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Donovan stood staring up at the KaibaCorp skyscraper, so unlike anything in Arthur's time.  Soon he would be going back to England with Alvis, as well as a few of the Japanese students for the second half of the exchange program – Ryou, Malik Ishtar, Otogi Ryuuji, and Rex Raptor.  He had yet to meet the latter two.

A short boy, a bit taller than Yugi, walked past him, hands in his pockets, whistling tunelessly.  He wore a green hat over his brown-and-purple hair, and he stopped to look Donovan over with his brown {?} eyes.

Donovan turned and looked down, eyeing the boy curiously.  Was this a whole city of short people?  "What?"

The shorter boy shrugged.  "Nothing.  You just reminded me of someone I know."

Donovan raised his eyebrows.  "Oh?  And who is this person?"

"Well, he's not a person, _exactly_..."  The boy suddenly found his shoes very interesting.

"A Duel Monster?"  Donovan thought he was on to something, because the boy looked up in surprise.

"Yeah, actually."

"A dragon?"

Blink.  "Yeah...  How'd you know?"

Donovan pulled Alvis's Serpent Night Dragon card from his coat and showed it to the boy.  "Because that's me."

The boy's jaw hit the ground.  "You mean –  Who are you?"

"A knight."  He extended his hand.  "Donovan.  And you are...?"

"Rex Raptor, dino-duelist."  He shook the hand.  Donovan noted that this was one of those going on the exchange trip to England.  "And this is Dar."  Rex drew out his own card.  Donovan stepped back as the long, sinewy Serpent Night Dragon materialized before him, then shrank, then became a human teenager.

As could be expected, Dar bore similarities to Donovan.  But his hair was perhaps a shade darker than Donovan's, his eyes dark blood while the knight's were sapphire blue, and there was an overall more feral look about him.

They studied each other for a while, red eyes finally meeting blue.  Donovan smiled thoughtfully.  "I believe we have a lot to talk about."

* * * * *

As it turned out, Dar's story was much like Donovan's own.  The Serpent Night Dragon was his natural form, having been formed from the few good parts of the soul of a wicked knight, as was dictated on his card.  He'd been adopted into the DelaSangre family by his "cousin" Job, Mai Valentine's Harpie's Pet Dragon.  Mai lived in the same apartment building as Esper Roba, who had actually won Dar from Rex in the Battle City tournament.  But then Shadi and Senui, the spirit of the Scales, had intervened.  Rex became the temporary keeper of the Scales, and with their help regained Dar from Esper.  All this had happened while many of the prominent duelists of Domino had discovered that a simple wish for the appearance of a Duel Monster would cause that monster to come alive.  [A/N: If you want more on this, read "Ways to Drive an Esper Psycho" by the wonderful TobyKikami.  Thanks so much for letting me use Dar, Toby!]

* * * * *

"Darn!"  Alvis poked at Ryou's Dark Necrophia, which had just taken out the last of her Life Points.  "You're too good, Ryou."

"I'd like to think so."  He and Alvis were positioned at the far ends of their airplane seats so as to make room to duel, Alvis almost toppling into the aisle across which Bakura and Zekel Sha were snoring contentedly, empty coffee cups scattered around them.  Malik was conversing quietly with his yami in Egyptian, and Rex and Dar were simply gazing at the strange cloud formations outside Rex's window.

Otogi had taken a miniature holographic Dungeon Dice Monsters board out of his backpack and begun playing against himself.  Donovan put down the book he had been reading and, surprising everyone, pulled a small bag from his pocket and poured an assortment of dice into his hand.  "Care for a game?" he asked Otogi.

Otogi shrugged.  "Sure."

Alvis looked up from counting her losses to Ryou – twenty-seven.  "I didn't know you knew Dungeon Dice Monsters, Donovan.  How long have you been playing?"

"Longer than you."  He gestured vaguely, indicating the whole group.

"Somehow I doubt that," Otogi said incredulously.  "I invented the game."

"In this era, perhaps.  But I've been playing for centuries."

Otogi was looking increasingly confused.  "You're not one of those Millennium Item spirits, are you?"

Donovan laughed.  "I'm not _that_ old."  He pulled one side of the Dungeon Dice Monsters board toward himself.  "Shall we begin?"

* * * * *

Otogi was growing more and more frantic as Donovan calmly maneuvered his Dungeon Path _around_ Otogi's, closing in on his Die Master from the side.  His low-level dice provided quick summonings, allowing him to build a path across the board while his opponent only had a few monsters on the board.

Donovan finally reached Otogi's Heart Points with his team of Knight of Twin Swords, Flame Swordsman, and Dancing Elf.  He attacked with each of them, taking out all of the teenager's Heart Points.

Otogi slumped in defeat as his Die Master dissolved.  "Why can't I win at my own game anymore?" he asked the ceiling.

"I wouldn't worry about it.  There's only two people I could never beat.  One of them was Merlin."

The younger boy blinked.  "Merlin...?"

Donovan sighed.  "Never mind."

* * * * *

"Mom, we're all at least sixteen years old.  I think we can walk the mile from here to the house.  Besides, there are—"  Alvis broke off her first English conversation since arriving in Japan to count the people standing around the airport payphone.  "There are six of us.  We wouldn't all fit in the car."  There was a pause as Alvis listened to her mother.  "Yes, I'm sure we'll be all right."  She covered the mouthpiece to ask her friends a question.  "You'll all eat pizza, right?"  Nods and murmurs of assent, then back to the phone.  "Yep, that's fine.  We'll see you in about fifteen minutes, then.  Bye!"  She hung up and hefted her bags.  "Well, let's get going."

So as not to alarm Alvis's parents, the three yamis had returned to their soul rooms, and Dar was in his card.  All were likely asleep.

"Pizza?  In England?" Malik mused.  "Isn't that an American thing?"

"My mom's American.  She treats us to pizza or hamburgers once in a while."

"Ah."

Ryou watched as the houses thinned out, and at the same time grew bigger, eventually becoming mansion-like.  He eyed the more frequently appearing pillars and balconies, and tried to force out of his mind the notion that Alvis's parents would be the rich snobs the houses seemed to suggest.  They couldn't be, or it would have been evident in their daughter's personality.

They finally reached Alvis's house – one of the larger ones.  "Somehow, I'm not surprised," Donovan commented.

"Hm?"  Alvis rang the doorbell.

The knight grinned.  "After all, one could argue that your father is the rightful king of England."

"Wh-what?" the girl spluttered.

Otogi, Rex, and Malik stared in puzzlement.

Ryou looked thoughtful.  "He's right, you know.  Being descended from Arthur _does_ give him a claim to the throne."

"Please don't mention that to my mother," Alvis hissed as footsteps approached.  "She would completely flip out."

The door swung oven, revealing a smiling, middle-aged woman with Alvis's brown hair.

"Hi, Mom," Alvis grinned.

The girl's mother swept her into a bear hug as the five boys hung back awkwardly.  "I missed you so much," she whispered fiercely into Alvis's ear.

"Mom, you're embarrassing me."

"Oh.  Sorry."  She dropped a quick peck on her daughter's cheek before releasing her and turning towards the other teenagers.  "Can you tell me who your friends are?" she asked, peering up curiously at Donovan.

Alvis gestured to each of the boys in turn.  "This is Ryou, my pen pal, you should remember him from the photos he's sent.  And this is Rex Raptor, Malik Ishtar – he's from Egypt, originally – Otogi Ryuuji, who created Dungeon Dice Monsters.  And this is Donovan."

"A pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Donovan said courteously as he shook Mrs. Drake's hand, guided by lingering remnants of chivalry.

She smiled winningly at him before leading the group of six into a large hallway.  "The pizza's in the kitchen."  She abruptly slapped her hand to her forehead.  "Alvis, I forgot to tell you.  Max dropped by this morning.  He—"

"Mom, he flew all the way from the United States and you say he 'dropped by'?"

Mrs. Drake laughed.  "Right.  Anyway, he's sleeping upstairs, so when you show the boys to their rooms make sure you don't wake him up.  Jet lag, you know."

Alvis let out a huge yawn herself, which set everyone else off.  "Speaking of jet lag, I think ours is setting in.  We'd better eat now, then go to bed."

"Good idea."  They trooped into the kitchen, where the hot, homemade pizza was waiting for them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Griff: *stretching*  Weeell, I think that's enough for now.  It's already, what, four pages long?  More?  I'll try to get the next part up by next week, so—

Donovan: *chaining Griff to the chair*

Griff: Drat.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Donovan woke to near pitch-blackness.  He turned over to look at the glowing clock on the bookshelf beside him – three o' six.  Very early by modern standards.  But he felt completely awake.

He pulled on a green bathrobe before setting out to find his way back to the kitchen and a glass of water.  He almost fell over the copy of _The Light Beyond the Forest_ by Rosemary Sutcliff he had fallen asleep reading, one of a slew of Arthurian novels Alvis had dug up for him.  It was pretty good, except for the fact that Mordred was portrayed as a sadistic nutcase with delusions of grandeur.

After a minimal amount of actual searching, Donovan found the kitchen, but realized as he maneuvered his way toward the refrigerator that he was not the only one who had slept off jet lag so quickly.

Alvis was sitting at the kitchen counter in a too-big tie-dyed t-shirt and blue yoga pants, chatting casually with a silver haired man, his back to Donovan, dressed in a purple bathrobe liberally peppered with odd pink rabbits in red overalls.  [A/N: You know who he is now, yes?  *snark*]

Donovan grabbed a glass from the cupboard and the pitcher of water from the fridge before muttering a "good morning" to Alvis and sitting down beside her.

"Hey, Donovan.  This is Max.  Max, Donovan."

Max was a young man, good-looking, and upon close inspection Donovan could see that his left eye was glass.  He nodded to Donovan, and the knight returned the nod.  There was something familiar about Max, but he couldn't think what...  He looked like Merlin, that was it.  A much younger version of Merlin – and both of them bore a resemblance to Zekel Sha, the spirit of the Eye.

"I play Toon World, which makes my Ryu-Ran a Toon..."  Donovan suddenly realized that they were dueling, using a miniature holographic board much like Otogi's Dungeon Dice Monsters one.  The red dragon-in-an-eggshell on Max's side of the field made a popping sound and it became suddenly more cuddly-looking.

Donovan grinned at the tiny Serpent Night Dragon hovering a few inches in the air in front of Alvis.  The girl was frowning.  "Where's a De-Spell when you need one?"  But a smile slowly spread over her face.  "Gah...  Those things are just too cute!"

Max chuckled.  "I think I'll play Dragon Capture Jar now, and take your dragon."  Alvis's face fell.  "So, the dragon's in the jar, and it's your move."

His opponent began mumbling incoherently as she drew her next card.  She glared at it, then laid it on the monster card part of the field in defense position.  "Go ahead, Max."

"Alrighty then."  He drew, and beamed.  "Just what I was looking for.  Dragon Piper, in attack mode."  The purple creature appeared, and began tooting on its flute, seemingly picking notes at random.  The Serpent Night Dragon arose from the Dragon Capture Jar and – pop! – became a rounder, larger-eyed, utterly more adorable version of itself.  [A/N: I drew this in my Latin notebook.  Kawaii!  *huggles Toon SND*  This is basically the dragon version of CD, y'know.]

Donovan twitched slightly, and blinked at the sparkly-eyed little creature bouncing around across from him.  "Oh, boy..."

The girl beside him was close to falling off her stool in fits of hysterical laughter.

It was at that moment that Rex Raptor and Dar DelaSangre entered the kitchen, Rex in dinosaur-print pajamas, Dar in a red bathrobe.  Both of them saw the Toon Serpent Night Dragon before anything else.

Rex simply let his jaw hit the floor, but Dar let his thoughts be known.  "Tell me that isn't what I think it is," he demanded, a quivering finger pointed at the small, rubbery blue dragon.

Alvis blinked at him and nodded.  Dar twitched and went to sit next to Donovan, his head in his hands.  Rex joined him, once he had acquired a bowl of cereal.

Ryou Bakura arrived next, looking extremely tired and grumpy, muttering something about homicidal caffeine addicts.  "Please tell me you have a coffee machine."

His hostess pointed toward the side counter, and there indeed was a coffee machine.  Ryou made his way around the counter in the direction of the blessed appliance.  When he kissed a very surprised Alvis on the cheek and told her she was the most wonderful person in the world, it became obvious to everyone there that he was not used to being woken _quite_ this early by the mad Egyptian spirits sharing his body.

The white-haired boy filled the machine with coffee beans and turned it on before finding a place at the counter, falling asleep beside Max, who he seemed not to have identified yet.

* * * * *

After the duel had been finished (Alvis having been clobbered by the Toon Serpent Night Dragon) and the holographic board had been put away, Alvis had pulled out some more bowls and spoons and an assortment of cereals.  The smell of coffee was beginning to permeate the kitchen when—

"COFFEE!  COFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEE!!!!"

The spirit of the Millennium Ring, clad only in a pair of Man-Eater Bug boxer shorts, sprang into the kitchen, landing, cat-like, on all fours.  He paused to sniff the air, and leaped over the counter, snatching the coffee pot.  The spirit clutched the pot to his chest as if it was his first-born son, and snickered evilly as Zekel Sha appeared, panting, at an only _slightly_ more sedate pace, though he had taken the time to don a bathrobe.

"Too slow!" Bakura cackled, grabbing a mug from the counter and pouring himself a cupful of the hot brown liquid.  Then, surprising everyone, he tossed to the spirit of the Eye another mug and the coffee pot, still grinning triumphantly.  Zekel Sha deftly caught both and began pouring out his own share.

Bakura suddenly caught sight of Max, who was eyeing him with a mixture of anger and fear.  The spirit almost spit out his coffee.  "Why are we eating breakfast with Maximillion Pegasus?!?!"

Unnoticed by the others, Zekel Sha had darted out of the kitchen.

Bakura's eyes suddenly gleamed with excitement, and he drew the Millennium Ring from a pocket.  He held it up, pointing it in Max's direction.

The reinventor of Duel Monsters toppled his stool over in an effort to distance himself from Bakura, and backed away as the tomb robber advanced.  "What more do you want from me?" he demanded.  "You have the Eye!"

Before Bakura could answer, he was knocked to the ground, courtesy of Alvis and Ryou.  "You're not killing anyone, yami," Ryou said decidedly.  His yami pouted as well as he could with his face mashed into the floor.

"I can explain," sighed Alvis.  "I think I already told you that my mom's American.  She introduced me to Duel Monsters when it first came out six years ago.  I was hooked right away, and started spending all my money on cards."  She grinned.  "I was quickly broke, but I got to be pretty good at the game, and competed in a few tournaments.  When I got to be Regional Champion – and only because everyone else around here is really pathetic, mind you–"

"You beat Morgan," Bakura pointed out, his voice muffled.

"Luck," Alvis insisted, "and some intervention on Ryou's part – and yours.  Anyway, after I won the regional tournament I met Max."  She shrugged.  "And the rest is history.  We somehow managed to become friends."  Alvis glanced down at the spirit she was sitting on top of.  "If we let you up, will you promise not to kill anyone?"

"Yes," Bakura replied, rather reluctantly.

Alvis nodded, and she and Ryou stood up.  Bakura climbed to his feet, and contented himself with finding a place at the counter and shooting murderous glances at Max from behind a bowl of Rice Krispies.

Max, in the meantime, had righted his own stool and perched upon it.  "Actually, the reason I'm here is because I was planning another tournament, just for Europe, and I thought you might like to help."  He smiled brightly at the others, apparently confident that Bakura's promise would hold him.  "Since you're here, you could enter – you'll be here for the next month, right?"  Nods all around.  "Great!"  Max leaned forward conspiratorially.  "I was thinking it should work something like Duelist Kingdom, with the star chips and suchlike, but with updated rules…"  So began the tournament the champions of which would be named the Duelists of the Roses.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Griff: Well, I think I like that ending.  I'm done!  Yippee!  *throws confetti*  I know the entire story is completely disjointed, and the prologue is obscenely messed-up, so I'm going to fix it up a bit and re-post it.  But only after I've done the prequel.

Donovan: Oog...

Griff: Yep, the prequel!  What happened to Donovan in King Arthur's time!  Sorcery, swordfighting, Dungeon Dice Monsters...  I've got a preview up on FictionPress!  It's posted as "Dragon's Cove," and is actually the result of an English assignment.  Go read it!  But anyway, version 1.5 of DDDH will include added scenes, fixed-up scenes, and references to the prequel.  As for the sequel (yes, the sequel), I've got a plot planned out, but I'm not going to give anything away.  After you've read (and reviewed!) "Dragon's Cove," read TobyKikami's "Ways to Drive an Esper Psyco" for more of Dar.  It's one of the greatest things on FanFiction.  If you're looking for more Donovan, read Millennium Slinky's "Welcome to Camelot?"  It's very funny!  *watches Donovan chase Seth around, sword drawn*  *snark*

Ethelflaed – Close enough!  You get a cameo anyway, because you are a wonderful authoress!  Fear the Millennium Bamboo!  MOO!!  Hey, that rhymes!

Silvie – The ice cream - not quite, but because you're a great person you get a cameo anyway.  Yay!  *hides from the Random Stick*  *helps you glomp Sirius*  *Helps you glomp Baku-chan, too*  *is sent to the Shadow Realm*  *crawls out*

TobyKikami – I love it when people think I'm funny!  Well, Rex is here, and so is Dar!

Skyla – This chapter's longer!  By quite a bit!

WolfYoukai64 – Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!  You get a cameo!  Congrats!  I know how you feel about school...  *watches smoke pour out of own ears*  By the way, are you ever going to get back to writing Icetor?

Fade – I can too handle a review!  Maybe that sugar wasn't a good idea...

Alex Warlon – I know you!  You read Toby's stuff!  But anyhoo...  Arthur and Merlin weren't really supposed to be evil (if you read the rest of the story you'll have seen that Merlin isn't nearly as mean as he seems), but, as I said, the entire story's kind of disjointed.  The card seemed to make the most sense out of anything, and I know they had some kind of playing cards in Medieval England.  This IS my own, original work.  If by the "original fanfiction" you mean "Ways to Drive an Esper Psycho," Donovan is NOT Dar.  What gave you that idea?  He's a completely different person.

SDGD – Where are you?  Is your computer broke?  I miss you!

Donovan: *returns, out of breath*

Griff: *randomly huggles Donovan, CD and Chibi Zechs*

Donovan: ^_^;;

CD: *waves*  Bye-bye!

Griff: Yeah.  Bye for now, and please review!  How about this – anyone who reviews this chapter gets a "Road Trip" cameo, if you didn't already.  *watches reviewers run away in terror*  *blinks*  Was it something I said?


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